A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl
by Lady Sigyn
Summary: Relena gets pregnant, and Heero leaves her 'for her own good'. Someone else watches her? HYxRP Heero's chapter is up! Come read it!
1. Prologue

A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl  
  
Prologue  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gundam Wing characters in this story. Really. No, I'm serious. Yeah.  
  
A/N: In case you were wondering. This story's HYxRP and QW+RP. I have a personal liking for that pairing (*cough* ep. 33 *cough*) Anyways, on with the story…  
  
  
  
The news went earth and space wide last week. Relena couldn't believe it. If she thought she was popular before… She was twenty years old and two months pregnant.  
  
Some nurse had spilled it all to her news reporter friend. So now everyone knew — she thought. She really wondered if 'Daddy' knew. She hadn't seen head or tail of him, so he probably didn't. She wondered what he would think.  
  
She shook her head. She didn't care what he thought -- this was all his fault. Okay, so it wasn't… that was just something she told herself when she got fed up. She was lying to herself again.  
  
Actually, she really did care. She hadn't seen him in a long time. She missed him and felt a little lonely without him around. He didn't talk to others much, but he'd talk to her. She missed the warm feeling he brought her.  
  
Relena was sitting on her large bed. She hugged her knees to her chest and wished she could feel his strong arms wrapping around her to comfort her. A tear came to her eyes as she whispered, "Heero."  
  
A knock at the door startled her. She lifted her head up to it, but didn't make a move for it.  
  
"Miss Relena," came Pagan's voice.  
  
She sighed and told him he could come in. It was of no surprise to her that Pagan was there for her. She could really count on him; he was sort of like a grandfather to her.  
  
Pagan stood at the doorway. "Miss Relena, dinner is ready."  
  
Relena nodded. "Thank you, Pagan."  
  
"Yes," Pagan said and began to shut the door before Relena stopped him.  
  
"Pagan!"  
  
"Miss Relena?"  
  
"…Do you think I'm an idiot for what I've gotten myself into?"  
  
Pagan smiled at her. "Miss Relena, as you grow older you will see that everyone makes mistakes they regret. This is all just a lesson in life for you."  
  
Relena rested her chin on her knees as she thought about what he had said. Pagan nodded and left, closing the door behind him.  
  
'Some lesson in life,' Relena thought. 'Why couldn't I learn something else – like sewing?"  
  
Relena was hungry, but she didn't want to get up; she was more tired. She lied down onto her bed. She proved to be more tired than she thought as her eyelids became tired and she drifted off to sleep.  
  
Her dream ended up taking her back to how she got this way. It was raining outside and Heero came to her the usual way –her balcony. That was the reason she always kept it unlocked, and that was the reason he always got mad at her for lack of protection.  
  
She sat at the edge of her bed as he paced in front of her, lecturing her about locking her balcony door. But then, out of nowhere, he stopped. His hair and clothes dripping wet onto the carpet. He told her that she had to be careful… because she cared for her.  
  
The dream wasn't as detailed as the real version. They soon ended up in bed. He stayed with her for almost two weeks. Then, he left without warning her. He left her right there. That was two months ago.  
  
***  
  
Rashid walked up and down the same hall three times. When he couldn't find his young master he decided – for some reason – he was in his room.  
  
Walking down the hallway to Quatre's room he could faintly hear a sound coming from his door, which made him pick up his pace. When he pushed Quatre's door open a little, he saw the blond stuffing clothes into a bag.  
  
"Master Quatre, where are you going?"  
  
"Hello Rashid," Quatre greeted. "I'm going to earth."  
  
Rashid looked surprised. "Earth, huh? What for?"  
  
Quatre looked down. "Truthfully? I've heard about Miss Relena's condition. I think she needs a shoulder to lean on."  
  
"I see," Rashid replied. "So you're going to drop everything and leave?"  
  
"I have no one to meet with. All the papers I need to go over are in my bag."  
  
Quatre zipped the bag up. "Miss Relena is my friend. I have to go help her out – just for a little while." He looked Rashid in the eye. "Wouldn't you?"  
  
Rashid slowly smiled at Quatre's determination. He was sure all of this wasn't coming from just friendship. "Would you like someone to go with you?"  
  
"No Rashid," Quatre replied. "I'll be fine by myself. Thanks, though. I don't really wish to make a big announcement about it."  
  
Rashid nodded, understanding. He turned to leave.  
  
"Uh… Rashid?"  
  
"Yes, Master Quatre?"  
  
"You wouldn't be able to get me on a plane – would you?"  
  
"I will call," Rashid replied. He then left.  
  
Quatre turned his eyes back down to his bag. "I'm sorry to hear about your unexpected surprise, Miss Relena. Everything will be okay; don't worry. And I bet I have a hunch at who the father could be."  
  
The End of the prologue  
  
Why do I have a feeling this won't look good on FF.net after I've done this in Word? Anyways, you can't make much out of this, I know. I'm almost done typing up the first chapter (  
  
Thank you for reading 


	2. Chapter 1

A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl  
  
Chapter 1  
  
  
  
All over the world there were festivals, robberies, oil being struck, people dieing. And Relena Darlian was sitting at her dinner table eating her fourth bowl of peas.  
  
Peas. She had no idea why she had a craving for the small green things. They practically had no taste at all. She didn't even like peas that much. But she was supposed to eat whatever she craved.  
  
Pagan poked his head into the large room. Once he got Relena's attention, he announced, "There's a young man here to see you, Miss."  
  
Relena looked surprised. 'A young man'? She wondered if that young man was Heero.  
  
"Who is it?" she asked.  
  
Pagan gave the hint of a smile. "He told me to keep it a secret."  
  
Relena jumped out of her chair as fast as she could. It had to be him. Although she'd never known Heero to keep that sort of thing a secret – or even come in the front door. It just had to be him.  
  
When she got into the living room and found a blond sitting in a chair, she was slightly disappointed. Then, when she realized who the blond was, she felt a bit happier.  
  
"Quatre," she greeted.  
  
Quatre turned his head to her. He smiled and jumped up.  
  
"Hello, Miss Relena," he said warmly as he walked over.  
  
They hugged each other for a moment. As they pulled away she said, "Quatre, I've told you a million times you may call me 'Relena'. We are friends after all."  
  
Quatre nodded. "I get it, no formalities." Then he got a bit more serious. "Relena, you don't mind if I stay here for awhile, do you?"  
  
Relena was surprised by Quatre's question. Of course she didn't mind; she was so lonely all by herself, in a big castle. She was just sort of curious why he asked this so soon. "I would lover for you to stay. Why?"  
  
Quatre didn't answer. Instead, he looked down. She followed his look to her stomach.  
  
"I suppose you didn't know what it'll be," Quatre said.  
  
Quatre dropped down to his knees. He poked her stomach and said in a quiet voice, "Hey, you better not cause your mother too much grief."  
  
She sighed. "Don't worry about it Quatre, it's not your problem."  
  
Quatre quickly stood up and looked in her eyes. "Problem? Relena, you are going to bring another life into the world. How can you call it a problem? Aren't you happy?"  
  
"Quatre, I've always thought about this. The thing is, I was expecting the daddy to be with me for it."  
  
Quatre gave her another smile. "That's why I'm here, Relena. I don't want a friend of mine to go through this alone. You don't mind, do you?"  
  
Relena smiled slightly. "Of course not. It's awful lonesome around here."  
  
Quatre saw tears beginning to well up in her eyes. He took her in another hug. "It's okay, Relena," he whispered in her ear. He leaned his head against hers. "Heero will come back. Don't worry. Alright?" He felt her nod and pulled away.  
  
Personally, Quatre doubted Heero would come back. But he sure hoped, that if he did come back, he would hurry. Then Relena would be as happy as she was before.  
  
"My bags are outside," Quatre informed her. "I probably owe that cab driver a lot now." He headed toward the door. "I'll be right back."  
  
Quatre got a nice room. It was like any room, but didn't have much personal items in it. There were windows with curtains, and soft beds, and a mirror, and even its own bathroom. It was down the hall from Relena. He wasn't positive, but he guessed about six doors away.  
  
It was about two in the morning, and Quatre was fast asleep. Suddenly, he shot up in bed.  
  
"Uh oh," he whispered.  
  
He rolled off the bed and landed on his feet. Since he was already in the bottom half of his pajamas, he tossed the top half on over his head. He exited the room and padded down the hall -- so as not to wake anyone up.  
  
When he got to Relena's door, he knocked on it. Pushing it open slowly, in called to her. Seeing that she wasn't lying in her bed, or in her room at all, he went into the room and made a beeline for the bathroom.  
  
That's where he found Relena. Her head hanging over the toilet, making disgusting sounds. He slowly walked over to her.  
  
Relena came up from her second round of vomiting. She breathed in and out carefully, wiped her mouth with some toilet paper, and made a face at the taste in her mouth. When she leaned over to do it again, she was surprised when her hair didn't fall on her face. It felt like it was tied back. Then she felt something slide up and down her back. So, this time, when Relena sat back up and wiped her mouth with the toilet paper in her right hand, she looked over to her left to see Quatre standing there. He was holding her hair back and rubbing her back.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked her calmly.  
  
She nodded and leaned against him. "How'd you know I was in here?"  
  
He sighed. "Let's just say I could feel your pain."  
  
"Hm."  
  
She closed her eyes and Quatre wondered if she was falling asleep. She wasn't. This proved true when she opened her eyes to look up at him.  
  
"You men sure are lucky you don't have to put up with this."  
  
Quatre gave her a reassuring smile. "If all women are as strong as you are, Relena, there probably is a reason girls got the part."  
  
Relena closed her eyes again and shook her head. Quatre leaned over and flushed the toilet, and when he felt her fall asleep, he picked her up and carried her out to her room.  
  
He laid her down on her bed and covered her up with a blanket. He watched her for a minute before he let out a long sigh. "Good-night, Miss Relena." His eyes trailed down to her stomach. He reached over and put his hand on it. "Good-night to you, too."  
  
Then he turned and headed back to his own room.  
  
***  
  
"Yeah. I was at a colonies meeting, and everyone was suspicious that you hadn't come," Quatre explained to the girl lying on the couch across from him.  
  
She nodded. "Yes, I didn't want to go to any meeting. It wouldn't look right to have to make a trip to the bathroom in the middle of a conference. I guess I thought they would assume I was sick if I didn't come."  
  
"That's what I thought," Quatre admitted. He shook his head as he took a sip of his teacup. He tried to think of something to say. He looked over at Relena.  
  
"Do you want a boy or a girl, Relena?"  
  
Relena smiled lightly. "I want a little girl. I want to fix her hair and get her cute clothes…"  
  
"What'll you name her?"  
  
Relena shrugged. "I haven't thought about her. I think I'd have to see her first."  
  
Quatre looked down at his cup. "I'd want a boy. When I was young, I always wanted to do things my father said I was above." He shook his head. "I'd take him to see the lovely Earth. Buy him things. I might even let him have a pet. He could play baseball is he wanted to--" he glanced over at Relena. "It's like Cricket."  
  
Relena nodded. Then, curiously, she asked, "What would you name your boy, Quatre?"  
  
Quatre blushed. "I'm not very good with choosing names. I always thought that should be left to the mother. I mean, with everything they go through, they should be able to choose their child's name." He glanced over at Relena. "Right."  
  
Relena gave him a big smile. "Sure. 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet'."  
  
"And if my boy were named 'Sue', I'd love him just the same."  
  
"You know what Quatre? You've only been here a couple days, and it's not lonely around here anymore. How long will you be staying with us?"  
  
"Until the baby comes or you kick me out – whichever comes first."  
  
Relena laughed. "Oh, I doubt I'll be kicking you out anytime soon."  
  
Well, she didn't kick him out. The two friends became closer those next couple months. No longer feeling alone, they would both share pass experiences. Quatre usually trying to avoid stories with Heero in them, although he just had to mention the time him and Duo took Heero's clothes to the wash.  
  
Quatre was really protective of Relena. He wanted to take care of her; she noticed this. Sometimes, she felt like she couldn't stand on her feet without Quatre telling her to sit down and relax, ask her if she wanted anything to eat, wondering how she felt every five seconds. And she took the warmness kindly, too.  
  
Quatre had been going to meetings every once in awhile, representing both of them. He tried avoiding meetings in space because he always made sure he wasn't gone long so he could get back and take care of Relena. Relena made a joke that the maids were probably starting to feel overpaid by their lack of work lately. But, Quatre's antics only became more frequent as seven months passed by and Relena was at that time.  
  
Quatre came into the dining room with a luggage in one hand and a black jacket in the other. He smiled at Relena who was drinking a large cup of milk.  
  
"How are you feeling?" Quatre asked as he sat his things on the floor by his chair.  
  
"Usual," Relena replied. She couldn't say she felt good, but she couldn't say it was worse than she's ever felt.  
  
Quatre sat down and took an apple from the basket in the center of the table. "So the big day's getting closer, are you excited?"  
  
Relena looked up. She had been pregnant for nine months. It was now May, so she got pregnant back in September. Her birthday was last month, so that made her twenty-one. This was soon going to be all over and Quatre was asking if she was excited? She sure was!  
  
"I can't wait to see my baby," Relena replied.  
  
Quatre chuckled. He couldn't either. He wanted it to be a girl because that's what Relena wanted. And he wanted her to be happy – as always.  
  
He got up from his chair and walked over to her. He kneeled down and put his hand on her stomach. He got his big smile on his face. "I like it when it kicks," he mumbled.  
  
She laughed. "Yeah, well…"  
  
Quatre headed back to his chair until he stopped halfway. He winced and turned back to Relena. Her head was hanging over the table and she was hissing in pain.  
  
"Relena," Quatre said, shocked. "What's wrong?"  
  
Relena lifted her head. "Quatre… I think… I think this is it."  
  
Quatre's eyes bugged out. "Okay, Relena, hold on!"  
  
He ran out of the dining room yelling for Pagan to get the car out in front – quickly. He came back a minute later and ran over to Relena.  
  
"Oh God," she whispered. "My water broke."  
  
Quatre bit his lip and half helped, half picked her up. "Come on Relena, the car's waiting outside." She nodded and tried to get out as fast as she could.  
  
During the car ride, Quatre called Duo and Hilde. After they said they'd get there as soon as they could, he called Trowa. Trowa said he'd be there fast. It would be easy for him, since he was on Earth already. Next, Quatre called Wufei and Sally. They wouldn't answer so Quatre left a quick message as the car pulled up to the hospital. He put the phone in his pocket and looked over to Relena. Relena reached over and clasped her hand in his.  
  
"Don't worry Relena," Quatre whispered. He quickly got out of the back of her pink car, ran to the other side, and helped her out. "I'll be right out in the waiting room, okay?"  
  
On the way in, Relena replied, "But who's going to hold my hand?"  
  
Quatre looked down when they got to the front desk. The lady in the front desk looked up at them.  
  
"Yes, may I help you?"  
  
"Yes," Relena said. "I need a doctor, I-"  
  
She didn't have to finish her sentence. The lady at the desk looked her up and down. She quickly turned to the person behind her.  
  
"Quick, get a wheelchair! Vice Foreign Minister Darlian is here and needs to get to the Maternity Room."  
  
"How's that for service?" Quatre said to Relena.  
  
Some nurse put Relena in a chair and pushed her off. Quatre watched her go until the lady behind the desk broke him off.  
  
"Oh my God. You're Quatre Winner," she said. "I've seen you on the news."  
  
Quatre nodded. Who hadn't?  
  
The girl went on. "I heard the vice foreign minister was pregnant." She glanced to where Relena used to be and back to where Quatre was. "But I didn't know it was you."  
  
Quatre was surprised by what she said. "What?! No, you don't understand…"  
  
It was barely ten minutes later when Quatre ended up in the same room with Relena in it.  
  
"Quatre," she said to the boy next to him.  
  
"Shhh," Quatre whispered. "Just breathe, okay?"  
  
"Quatre," she continued, ignoring what he said. "Why don't you wait for the others in the waiting room? Labor can take hours. But, promise that you'll come back in?"  
  
Quatre smiled. "I promise." He got up and went out to the waiting room. To his surprise, Trowa was already there.  
  
"Trowa!" Quatre said happily.  
  
Trowa nodded back. "Hi, Quatre."  
  
Quatre sat down next to him. "She's been doing so well, I'm so proud of her."  
  
Trowa smiled slightly. "Did they drug her yet?"  
  
"I doubt it."  
  
"Oh yeah… Cathy said, 'Hi'."  
  
Quatre smiled. "That's good. I don't see her much."  
  
"No, you don't," Trowa agreed. He glanced around. "Where is everyone?"  
  
"Well, Duo and Hilde should be here in a few hours. I think Wufei and Sally are on a mission. They wouldn't pick up."  
  
Trowa gave him a look. "I think you missed someone."  
  
Quatre looked back at him. "I don't know how to contact him, Trowa."  
  
"Too bad we don't have a way of telling him he's going to be a father within the next couple of hours."  
  
Quatre nodded in agreement.  
  
The two friends held conversation for a while. This was rare, since there weren't many people Trowa would have a conversation with. Mostly, it was just his four 'friends' and his sister, Catherine.  
  
About two hours later, Duo and Hilde got there. Quatre informed them about Relena, and how he tried to call Wufei and Sally.  
  
"Man," Duo said. "They are always on missions, I bet they get good money."  
  
"I heard the Preventers were going to be a nonprofit organization," Trowa said.  
  
"Really?" Duo asked, surprised.  
  
Then, Duo looked at the floor for a moment. Hilde noticed his sudden silence and got worried. "What's wrong, Duo?"  
  
Duo looked over at her. "Aw, just thinkin'. Heero thought his life sucked – look at what he did. He just screwed two lives. I told him not to go."  
  
Hilde's worried look turned to anger. "Duo Maxwell, you know where he is, don't you?"  
  
"Wha? No. I don't know where he is, he didn't tell me."  
  
"You talked to him?"  
  
"The day he left!"  
  
"What'd he say?"  
  
"Jeez babe, calm down. He just said that he didn't want to rain Relena's life and that he was goin' out to try to be a better person.  
  
"And you let him go?"  
  
"No," Duo defended. "Trowa did!" As soon as he said it, he shut his mouth. Three heads turned to the tall boy.  
  
Trowa shrugged. "He left with the best of intentions. He said he's come back – that means he will."  
  
Now it was Quatre's turn to look at the floor.  
  
After a few seconds of silence, the other people in the waiting room that had been staring at them looked away.  
  
"I was just thinkin'," Duo continued as if Hilde had never interrupted him. "If Hilde got pregnant I'd be right in there with her."  
  
"Yeah right," Hilde mumbled.  
  
Quatre looked toward the hall that eventually led to the room Relena was in. "I would, too."  
  
"Guys," Trowa said after he heard Quatre. "Heero doesn't know."  
  
"Then shouldn't someone tell him?" asked Hilde.  
  
"Yeah sure," Duo said sarcastically. "Why don't you look him up in the phonebook and call him?"  
  
Hilde stuck her tongue out at Duo's sarcasm.  
  
Suddenly, a beeping sound startled everyone. But they were soon relieved to find it was Quatre's.  
  
Quatre pulled the portable videophone he'd put in his pocket earlier out and looked at it. "Wow. What a time to get mail." He pushed a button and sally came up on he screen. It was obvious she was in a car, although it wasn't moving. There were a bit of trees behind her, but not much of anything Quatre could pick out.  
  
"Hi Quatre," Sally said, cheerfully. "It's me and Wufei. Got your message, sorry we couldn't be there. We're on a mission, very hush, hush."  
  
"Woman," Wufei grumbled from off screen.  
  
"Okay, sorry. We'll come visit as soon as we can. Don't tell me anything about it – I want it to be a surprise. Well, that's all I wanted to say." She glanced to her right. "You want to say anything, Wufei?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Okay. She looked back to the screen. "Well, see ya Quatre. Bye!"  
  
Then the screen went black. Quatre smiled. He put the device back into his pocket as he shook his head.  
  
Duo laughed. "Wufei hates cameras of any type."  
  
"Yeah?" asked Hilde.  
  
Duo nodded. "Yeah."  
  
A nurse came into the room as quick as she could. She saw a family over to the far left, and the gundam gang in front of her.  
  
"Um… Quatre --" she began to ask, but Quatre immediately jumped up.  
  
"Is it Relena?" he asked.  
  
The nurse nodded. "Hurry," she said and hustled down the hall, Quatre hot on her heels.  
  
The nurse led Quatre back to the room he left just a few hours ago. He went in and ran right over to Relena, who was lying on the medical bed, a doctor and nurses surrounding her.  
  
Quatre reached over and clasped her hand. She looked over at him.  
  
"Quat-RE!" She turned her head back to the doctor in front of her."  
  
Quatre smiled lightly. "It's going to be okay, Relena. Squeeze my hand. Right then she immediately did as was told.  
  
Her palm was sweaty – of course, so was the rest of her body. Every so often a nurse would come over and pat a washcloth on Relena's forehead. Relena was breathing in and out and the doctor telling her to push and all it seemed quite tiring. But Quatre knew she could do it.  
  
"I see a head," the doctor announced.  
  
This made Quatre look down. He saw a head, too -- and a chest. The baby was almost out. Quatre rubbed Relena's hand and urged her to keep going.  
  
The baby came out and the doctor handed it to the nurses to clean up. Quatre ran his hand through Relena's wet hair. "Good job," he said in a low voice.  
  
The doctor came back over with the baby wrapped in a blanket. "Congratulations," he said. "You've just given birth to a beautiful baby girl."  
  
Relena's eyes lit up with joy, as the little girl was laid down into her arms. She could only study her all for a moment.  
  
"What are you going to name her?" Quatre asked excitedly.  
  
Relena looked at the baby a little longer before she replied. "I'm going to name her… Destiny. Because she's a big part of my life now… my future."  
  
Quatre smiled down at them, until Relena's voice broke into him. "Do you want to hold her Quatre?"  
  
"May I?"  
  
Relena held Destiny up and Quatre carefully took her into his arms. He held her to him like he would never let go.  
  
"Hey," he whispered. "I'm going to make sure you and your mother are happy. Even if it kills me."  
  
***  
  
"Duo," Quatre said rather irritated as the braided boy pushed pass him to look through the window.  
  
"Look at all those babies," Duo said. "Where's she at?"  
  
"Right there," Quatre pointed to a baby with a pink blanket over her. "There's Destiny."  
  
"Awww," Hilde said.  
  
Trowa almost cracked a smile at the infant. Duo pushed his face up against the window to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He wasn't.  
  
"Huh."  
  
"What?" Hilde asked.  
  
"She looks like Heero."  
  
Trowa squinted. "How can you tell?"  
  
Duo shrugged.  
  
Hilde nudged him. "I don't want to hear you say that around Relena, okay?"  
  
"I won't."  
  
Trowa shook his head. "I can't tell --" Then he saw the girl move and saw Prussian blue eyes shine from the light. His mouth gaped open a bit.  
  
Quatre sighed. "Still, she's going to grow up very well. She's going to experience peace; I'm going to make sure that happens. I don't want her to live through what we did."  
  
Duo nodded. "That's what I want for the next generation, too." The other two were quick to agree.  
  
The End of Chapter 1 


	3. Chapter 2

A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl  
  
Chapter 2  
  
  
  
"Man, they sure loose their cuteness fast," Duo complained as he held Destiny out at arm's length.  
  
Hilde rolled her eyes. Relena got up and took the baby away from Duo. Duo had wanted to hold her. So when Relena let him, well…  
  
"Duo," Quatre explained. "She has a diaper on. She's not going to hurt you."  
  
"Are you kidding?" Duo asked him. "She could've wet my clothes!"  
  
"I hope I don't get pregnant," Hilde said. "For the kid's sake. Its dad wouldn't come near it."  
  
"Don't worry," Relena said. "I'm going to go change her." And she left the room quickly.  
  
Duo looked over at Quatre. "Can't you potty train that kid?" he joked.  
  
"I'm afraid they have to be older than three days for that," Quatre added onto it.  
  
Hilde giggled.  
  
"Too bad Trowa had to leave so soon," Duo said.  
  
Quatre frowned. "Yeah, he had to go back to the circus." Trowa was his best friend and Quatre wasn't able to see him much.  
  
Relena re-entered the room. "Okay, she's dry."  
  
"That was fast."  
  
"Motherly abilities."  
  
"Ah…"  
  
Relena smiled at Duo. "Want to try to hold her again?"  
  
Duo grinned back. "No, that's okay Relena, you can keep her."  
  
Hilde put her hands out. "I do! I want to hold her!"  
  
Relena smiled at her and handed Destiny over.  
  
Hilde held the baby close to her. "Hi there, Destiny. You're so cute." She looked at her for a minute, into Destiny's Prussian blue eyes. When Destiny gave a cute little yawn, Hilde couldn't help but 'Awww.' "I want to have a baby," she mumbled.  
  
Duo crossed his arms and gave her a look.  
  
Relena took her seat on a chair. "You know, I thought you two would have a baby first."  
  
"Nope," Duo said in almost a sarcastic tone. He glanced at Hilde and then over to Relena. "We use protection."  
  
"Duo," Hilde snapped.  
  
"What?" Duo asked. He glanced over at Relena again who had a sad look on her face.  
  
"Er… it's not the best thing in the world." Duo said trying to make Relena feel better. "I mean you have sex with these things that feel like balloons --"  
  
Relena got up and left the room.  
  
"That's enough Duo," Hilde said angrily. She got up and followed Relena out.  
  
Duo looked over to Quatre who was giving him a scowl.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You made Relena feel bad. She was probably thinking about Heero the whole time you were talking."  
  
"Well, geez, I'm sorry I didn't know."  
  
Quatre glanced over in the direction Relena and Hilde went. "I'm not the one you should apologize to."  
  
Duo nodded. He got up and headed to Relena's room up the stairs. When he got to the hallway, he was about three doors down when he heard Hilde's voice.  
  
"Quatre?"  
  
Duo hurried down the hall faster and stood outside the door. He reached his hand out to the doorknob until he heard Hilde again.  
  
"But it's his child, Relena."  
  
Duo stopped.  
  
"I know it's his child," Relena replied calmly.  
  
Duo's eyes widened. He pushed his ear against the door. Quatre was Destiny's dad? No way! He was hearing things!  
  
"But he doesn't know," Hilde said.  
  
"Of course not. How can I tell him?"  
  
"You should think of a way."  
  
"Thanks for your help, Hilde. I'll try."  
  
Duo was standing there with his ear against the door dumbstruck.  
  
"What are you doing?" he heard a familiar voice ask behind him.  
  
He looked over to see the popular blond boy.  
  
"Quatre," Duo said surprised – too surprised. He cleared his throat. "I mean, Quatre. Heh heh. Just, um…"  
  
"Eavesdropping," Quatre finished with a smile. Duo shrugged.  
  
Suddenly, the door Duo was leaning on opened and Duo fell down onto the ground. Hilde and Relena, who now had her baby back in her arms, looked down at him.  
  
"Duo," Hilde said. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Uh… well…" Then, he remembered what was going on. He stood up and pointed at Relena. "I heard you, Relena. I heard it all."  
  
"What?" Relena asked.  
  
"I heard what you said about Quatre being Destiny's father and how you had to tell him. Plus, nine months ago you were still with Heero, so I don't know how you two pulled it off."  
  
Quatre, Hilde, and Relena all looked real confused.  
  
"What are you talking about, duo?" Hilde asked.  
  
"I heard you say Quatre was Destiny's dad."  
  
"No, I said Heero was Destiny's dad."  
  
Duo blinked a couple times. "Eh?"  
  
"Relena said she was really sore, but it wasn't at you. I was suggesting names, like Quatre's, but she said she was mad at Heero. You understand? Why do I always have to explain things to you?"  
  
Duo opened his mouth, but then just closed it. Instead he just nodded. Hilde would have made a comment on his speechlessness, but she thought it'd get him talking again.  
  
Quatre was still standing there confused. "What's going on?"  
  
Relena shook her head. "Don't worry about it." When Destiny yawned again she looked up to Quatre. "I'm going to go put her in her crib." She started to walk off, but Quatre jumped in front of her.  
  
"I'll do it!" he proclaimed. In a weaker voice he added, "If you don't mind."  
  
Relena handed the little girl to him. "I don't mind at all."  
  
Quatre gave her a smile and took Destiny into his arms. He glanced at Duo as he turned and left.  
  
Duo cleared his throat again, more to get Relena's attention. "Right. Uh… Relena, I came to apologize."  
  
"You don't have to Duo," Relena said. "It's not your fault."  
  
"Look… if it helps any… the way you guys did it is so much better."  
  
"Duo," Hilde snapped.  
  
"I mean, when we started out we did it without --"  
  
"Duo, stop your chattering."  
  
Duo shook his finger at her. "You can't hang around Wufei anymore," he said teasingly.  
  
Hilde rolled her eyes at that comment. "Come on, Duo. Let's go see if anything good is on TV."  
  
"'K," Duo said as he ran down the steps, Hilde after him.  
  
Relena was going to go down and watch TV, also. But before she did, she decided to peek in Destiny's room.  
  
All of Destiny's baby things were in there: her stroller, bouncer, toys, and so many other little gizmos. She saw Quatre standing by the crib. Through the wooden bars she could see Destiny lying there, her pacifier going up and down every once in awhile.  
  
"You see," Quatre said. "Ali Baba had the smartest camel in the land. So when the forty thieves captured his brother, his camel went back to him. Now, Ali Baba knew something was wrong. So, what he did, was he followed his camel back to the hidden coven."  
  
Relena smiled brightly. Quatre was so sweet. She knew that he knew Destiny didn't understand him. But he was taking his time to tell her a story. She sighed and thought about what Duo said. Perhaps she wouldn't mind if Quatre were her baby's father.  
  
Her eyes widened. What was she thinking? She could hurt people by just thinking something like that. Suddenly it hit her. She was starting to have feelings for him! She couldn't!  
  
She started down the steps. She thought about everything and decided that if she loved Heero so much that she would loose her virginity to him, she could sure wait for him.  
  
***  
  
The dark haired man was looking over the newsstand as if trying to decide which would be the greatest of all. The man at the stand, trying to sell these things, was getting angrier the more he just stood there.  
  
"Hey, Mac," the guy said. "You gonna buy anything or what?"  
  
The man gave him an annoyed look and went back to looking at all the varieties.  
  
"Look, pal. I sell these things. You don't just stand there and look at them."  
  
A cold look made him shut up for a moment. That was one thing Heero decided he was never going to loose. He noticed one particular newspaper had something about Relena on it. He could tell by the large prints 'Vice foreign minister Darlian'. He could see the other text, though. He pointed at that particular newspaper.  
  
"Can I see that one?"  
  
"No, you can buy it."  
  
"Can I see it?"  
  
"Fine!" The man took the newspaper off the rack and threw it at Heero. "Steal it for all I care!"  
  
Heero glared and held the newspaper up right. He didn't know why he wanted to act like a more average person, anyways. You say something to them and they snap back.  
  
He unfolded the newspaper and was stunned by the title that covered half the front page. According to this, Relena had had a baby.  
  
"Hey, Mac. You gonna buy it or what?"  
  
Heero gave him a look before reaching into his pocket and handing over some money. Then he walked off as quickly as he could.  
  
He was heading for a job he got awhile back at a lumberyard. He heard someone call his name behind him, but was too much into the article.  
  
Heero told himself, that if he ever found anyone as annoying as Duo, that he would shoot them. For some reason, he had decided to stop using weapons. So, a young man with short brown hair and brown eyes came up behind him and started to talk to him.  
  
"So what do you think of those guys raising our checks? Huh? I like it, don't you? What are you going to buy with the extra money? Huh? Do you want to know what I think of it? Huh? Ya want to know what I'm gonna buy?"  
  
Heero stopped walking, which made the other guy stop, too. Heero looked over at him. "Hey," he mumbled.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Heero shoved the newspaper in the man's face. "How long has this been going on? Huh?"  
  
The guy pulled the newspaper away slightly to look at it. He smiled at Heero.  
  
"Hey man, the Vice Foreign Minister Darlian got pregnant. You didn't know? It's been all over the news for the past nine months. Don't you watch TV?"  
  
"I don't have a television. I work for money to which I buy my food. Other than working I live in isolation."  
  
The man started to laugh. "Isolation! That's a good one, Heero!"  
  
Heero just shook his head. "Just tell me what you know about it." It was his experience that verbal rumors were usually a bit more truthful than newspapers.  
  
"Well, I dunno. She had a girl… about a week ago."  
  
"A week ago?" Heero thought about it. Nine months and a week ago… back in September. September. He got a surprised look on his face.  
  
"And," the guy continued as if he didn't notice Heero's reaction. "They thing the father is --"  
  
"I know who the father is." Heero turned and headed the way he came: back home. Repeating in his mind, 'I have to call Relena!'  
  
The man watched him leave in awe. Then he yelled after him. "Hey! The boss won't like you being AWOL like this!"  
  
Duo, Hilde, and Relena were trying to find something fairly good on TV. When the phone rang, Duo noticed some maid heading for it, and so he jumped up to it first.  
  
"I got it!"  
  
Duo picked it up and put it up to his ear. "Yello! You're calling Relena Darlian, but sorry, Duo Maxwell answered. So what can I do for ya?"  
  
"Duo," came a cold voice on the other end. "I want to talk to Relena. Right now."  
  
Duo got a surprised look on his face. "Whoa H -- " He stopped and glanced over to Relena, who was looking at him curiously. Duo gave her a big smile. "I'll um… go in here." He went into the dining room with the phone.  
  
"Heero," he said. "Man, boy I'm glad you called…"  
  
"Duo, I want to talk to Relena," Heero said simply.  
  
"I dunno, man," Duo replied. He peeked out the door to see Relena and Hilde watching TV. "She's kinda pissed at you."  
  
"Just put her on the phone."  
  
"Okay, okay, chill out."  
  
Duo pushed the door opened and walked out. "Uh, Relena." When he got the two girls' attention, he shook the phone. "It's for you. It's Heero."  
  
Relena got the saddest look in her eyes. "Tell him I don't really want to talk to him right now," she whispered trying to hold back her tears. "Tell him to call back later."  
  
Duo nodded and put the phone back up to his ear. "Uh… she said she doesn't want to talk to you now and to call back later."  
  
"Fine," Heero grumbled. "She can act like that and not talk to me. You tell her that I'm glad that she wanted to catch my attention with this by putting it on the front page of the newspaper."  
  
Duo bit his lip and looked over at Relena. "He said that you being pregnant written on the front page of a newspaper was a good way to get his attention."  
  
"Oh, really?" Relena said. "Well, good. I hope he got the message."  
  
Duo cleared his throat. "Uh, Heero? She said she hoped you got the message."  
  
Heero let out a growl. "Tell her I want to talk to her now!"  
  
"Now, Heero. Be calm with her."  
  
"You know what you can do with your calmness, Duo? You can just shove it up your--"  
  
The two girls watched Duo winced. He pulled the phone away and covered the mouthpiece with his hand.  
  
"He really wants to talk to you, Relena," Duo said.  
  
Relena sighed and got up. "Okay, I'll talk to him." She walked over and took the phone out of Duo's hand. She put it to her ear as Duo went over and sat down next to Hilde on the couch.  
  
"Heero," Relena said in the sweetest voice she could. "Nice of you to call me."  
  
"Relena, what is going on?"  
  
"Where do you want me to start, Heero? That night when…" she looked up at Duo and Hilde who were staring back at her. She pushed the door to the dining room open and went in, leaving Duo and Hilde to frown after her.  
  
"…when you slept by my side all night, and obviously left that morning?"  
  
"Relena, I stayed with you for nearly two weeks."  
  
"You passed your record, Heero."  
  
"Relena. Talk to me. What's going on?"  
  
Relena sighed. "Heero. I miss you so much. Where are you?"  
  
Heero sighed, also. "Brazil, South America, Relena. I'm trying to find myself out here. I've been looking, but I think if I find it, it'll be in space."  
  
"Don't go to space, Heero, please. Just stay here on Earth. Come to me, please. I need you. Destiny needs you."  
  
"…Destiny?"  
  
"Your daughter, Heero, yours and mine. Please, Heero. Don't do this to us."  
  
"I'm doing this for you," Heero said simply.  
  
"What?" Relena's voice almost cracked.  
  
"I'm not a worthy father, I wouldn't make a worthy husband in this condition. Give me some time to work this out, Relena. The war's been over for many years, but there's a part of me I can't get rid of. I don't want to be a soldier in a peaceful world. Give me some time to be good enough for you two. You know my habits. I know you know what I'm talking about."  
  
Relena tried not to cry. It was very difficult, but she didn't want Heero to hear her cry. "What do you want me to do Heero?"  
  
"Wait for me, Relena. I'll be fairly human one day. My soldier instincts cannot exist… in your world."  
  
"Heero," Relena's voice was now a whispered. "Come visit us before you go to space. See your daughter."  
  
"You know that would hurt you. I can't hurt you, Relena. Seeing you both now… it wouldn't help anyone. Not even myself. I'm trying to be a good enough person for you. Being able to see you two is my goal. If I don't have a goal to work for, what's the point?"  
  
"…Heero…"  
  
"Just wait for me, Relena."  
  
"I'll wait for you. If I'm old and grayed I'll still be waiting for you. But someone can't wait for you. She won't know who you are if…"  
  
"Have some trust in me Relena."  
  
"Heero."  
  
Heero slowly put the phone down until it hung up. He looked down at it for a long time. "Relena…"  
  
"Heero!" Relena yelled into the phone when she realized he'd hung up on her. "Heero!" She sighed and pulled it away from her ear. Looking down at it in sorrow. "I'll wait for you, Heero."  
  
Duo and Hilde looked at each other when they heard Relena's last comment. Realizing that the conversation must have ended, they headed back for the couch, so Relena wouldn't catch them. Quatre watched them go over, sit down, and act like they were watching TV the whole time. Quatre, however, didn't do things that way.  
  
Relena came through the door and was surprise when she saw Quatre. She gave him the best smile she could. "Hi, Quatre. Finish your story already?" Quatre eyed her as she hung the phone up.  
  
"She fell asleep, I think she found it extremely boring."  
  
Relena shook her head at him. She was about to go over by the television where Duo and Hilde were when Quatre jumped in front of her.  
  
"Are you really going to wait for him, Relena?"  
  
Relena looked at him in surprise. After a moment, she glanced over at the couch. Hilde began to talk about the show that was on, like she'd been into it all day. Duo, however, took to innocent whistling. Relena sighed and looked back to Quatre.  
  
"Quatre. I have to. He's my daughter's father. I can't do that to her."  
  
"Relena, please. He doesn't understand that the worst thing he can do now is not be here! You do need him now."  
  
"You don't understand. Heero will come back soon. I'm fine with the fact that he's not here now. I'll be fine as long as I can see him again in this lifetime. Don't be so overprotecting." She said the last sentence in a more playful way to lighten the mood. She now headed back to her obstacle: the chair next to the couch.  
  
Quatre watched her sit down and sighed. 'No, you aren't fine with it, Relena,' he thought, 'I can feel it. You need him now; you know it. I can feel that, too.'  
  
A bit later into the evening, Duo and Hilde said they had to go back home, so they said their good-byes. Actually, Hilde was the one who said they had to go back home. Whether it was because of Heero's phone call or because of what Duo did earlier, she was urgent to go. Quatre saw a look in Duo's eyes that showed he was thinking one of the two, also.  
  
So, Quatre and Relena wished them well before they left. And right after the young couple left, Relena thought of something. She looked over to Quatre who was resting on a chair.  
  
"Quatre," she said and walked over to him. "When are you going to go back to your colony?"  
  
Quatre smiled. "I've worn out my welcome, eh?"  
  
"Oh, no. Just curious."  
  
Quatre sighed and sat up right in the chair. "Yeah, I guess I should be going back."  
  
"Oh." Relena did her best to try not to show her disappointment. It was going to be slightly lonelier again. But only slightly, since she now had a baby and had to wait for Heero.  
  
"I'll leave tomorrow morning. How's that?"  
  
"If you want."  
  
Quatre got up. "I guess I had better get some sleep, then. I have to call for a plane and pack my things tomorrow."  
  
"Right," Relena said quietly. "Good night, Quatre."  
  
"Good night, Miss Relena."  
  
"Ah!" Relena said pointing a finger at him.  
  
Quatre sighed. "You caught me." Quatre wasn't completely out of the habit yet, and he'd still use 'Miss' before her name every now and then. Relena have him her best smile.  
  
It was around two in the morning when Relena woke up to the sound of Destiny crying. She groaned and kicked the covers off of her. She got up and headed towards the infant's room. She was surprised when Quatre met her at the doorway.  
  
"You get her, I'll get the bottle," Quatre said.  
  
"What if she's not hungry?"  
  
"She'll probably appreciate the food anyways."  
  
Relena shrugged. "Okay."  
  
As Quatre headed down the stairs, Relena ran to Destiny. She carefully picked up the moving, crying, infant. She held her and tried to hush her. The little girl showed now mercy.  
  
Thankfully, Quatre soon came in with a bottle. He handed it over to her and she accepted it. Carefully putting it into Destiny's mouth, so not to force- feed her.  
  
Relena looked up to Quatre. "She wasn't wet, I guess she was hungry." She looked back down to the now calm Destiny as she contently drank her bottle.  
  
"Uh… Relena," Quatre said. "You haven't gotten much sleep lately. I'll take care of her."  
  
"No, I don't think so. Thanks Quatre, but you have to leave tomorrow and you need your rest."  
  
"No, Relena please." They were looking straight at each other. "You need your rest.  
  
Relena opened her mouth to protest, but closed it when she saw Quatre's stern look. She sent him a look back, and they stayed like this for a second. Then, Quatre put his arms out to take Destiny. Relena let out an exasperated sigh and laid the baby in Quatre's arms.  
  
"You're sure?" she asked.  
  
"Yes," Quatre replied.  
  
She gave him a smile as he cradled her daughter in his arms. "You really are a sweet guy," she said out loud. Her eyes widened a bit when she realized what she did.  
  
Quatre blushed. "Gee, Miss Relena, I…"  
  
"Well… I mean you're quite helpful."  
  
"Yeah. I know what you mean."  
  
It was Relena's turn to blush. The two looked at each other for a moment, before Quatre broke it and looked down at the little girl in his arms, that was showing signs of being tired.  
  
"I guess you should get some sleep," he mumbled to Relena.  
  
She nodded. "Yes, you're right. She headed for the door. "Don't stay up too late."  
  
"I won't," Quatre replied. Then she left.  
  
About three and a half hours later, Relena woke up. Five o'clock was usually the time she got up. But, as soon as she was up, she put on her robe and headed down the hall to her baby's room. What she saw shocked her.  
  
Quatre was sitting on a chair holding a sleeping Destiny on his lap. Her bottle was sitting on the floor by one of the legs of the chair, and her pacifier lying next to it. But Quatre was awake with bloodshot eyes.  
  
Relena rushed over to him. "Quatre?" she asked in a worried tone.  
  
Quatre turned his head to her. "Relena." He picked Destiny up. "I watched her all night."  
  
"What? You were supposed to get some sleep!"  
  
"I did. I'd say… a good fifteen minutes."  
  
Relena stomped her foot. "Don't you lie to me, Quatre Winner."  
  
"I'm not," Quatre said honestly.  
  
His tone of voice calmed her a little. "But… why?" Quatre got up off the chair and went over to the crib. He carefully laid Destiny inside, and then turned to Relena. He walked over to her and offered a smile.  
  
"For you," was his simple reply. Then, he walked out of the room.  
  
A little while later, Relena was downstairs on the couch. She had a wide- awake Destiny on her lap as the watched some cartoon show for toddlers. She knew the little one didn't understand a thing, but something about a bunch of furry creatures dancing and singing mesmerized children.  
  
So, Destiny sat on Relena's lap, clapping lightly at the music coming from the television.  
  
Relena giggled at her antics. Suddenly, a sound behind the couch jerked her head to it.  
  
Quatre stood there with his bag in his right hand. His eyes were no longer bloodshot – he must have put some eye drops in them.  
  
"Quatre," Relena began.  
  
Quatre gave her a light smile. "Thanks for not kicking me out long ago."  
  
"You've been such a friend, Quatre."  
  
Quatre looked down to the girl clapping her hands absent mindlessly. He smiled wider.  
  
"I'm going to miss you, angel."  
  
Then Relena and Quatre looked at each other. He walked over closer and put a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I'm going to miss you too, Relena. Take care, okay?"  
  
She nodded. "Okay."  
  
He started for the door. "My plane leaves in a few hours. I'll see you in awhile."  
  
Relena sighed as he went out the door. "Sure, Quatre."  
  
The End of Chapter 2 (  
  
Oh, when Duo answered the phone with 'Yello', I didn't misspell 'Hello'. That's just how my little cousin answers the phone, so yeah…  
  
Thanks for reading, I hope you like it so far. I have the outline of each chapter, and I think there are going to be 15 chapters. But don't quote me on that. I better get typing, huh? Thanks for all the nice reviews; you're all so nice! And don't worry, I know where the story's heading. The point is surprising the reader. Well, that's all from me. Thanks again and wait for Chapter 3! 


	4. Chapter 3

A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl  
  
1 Chapter 3  
  
  
  
When Quatre stepped into his office for the first time in seven months, he saw nothing but darkness. Then, he felt something. Felt a lot of emotions coming together, quickly, in a mess of things. So many emotions, that he knew only belonged to one person.  
  
"Heero," he mumbled and turned the light on.  
  
The brunette boy looked up at him from his spot on the edge of Quatre's desk, half because he heard his name, half because the light came on. Quatre was the person he wanted to see, anyways.  
  
"Quatre," he replied. "It's about time you got home." He got off of his desk and walked over to the blond.  
  
Quatre sighed. "Heero. You shouldn't be up here. You should be on Earth, taking care of your daughter… and Re — Miss Relena."  
  
Heero shot him a look before replying, "I can't."  
  
"Why can't you?" Quatre asked, rather upset, as Heero walked back to Quatre's desk and sat down at the chair in front of it. Instead of a response, he got Heero beckoning to the chair behind the desk. Quatre walked over and sat down in it.  
  
"Alright," Heero said. "Now listen. This is a very difficult time in my life. I don't want to be the 'Perfect Soldier' anymore. I want to be as close to human as I can. But the thing is, I'm not – yet. If I were to see my girls it would hurt them."  
  
"How?"  
  
Heero looked surprised. "Quatre. Of all people I wouldn't expect you to ask me that."  
  
Quatre looked confused. "What do you mean, Heero?"  
  
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You didn't have a mother, just a father. You saw your father every so often. You know what it's like to wake up and run to see him, and he happens to be at a meeting. You know what it's like to know that he is reachable… but you can't get him. Don't ask me what I'm talking about, because you know."  
  
Quatre sighed. "Okay. But you have to, just once. For Relena."  
  
Heero eyed Quatre suspiciously. "Why are you so worried about her?"  
  
Quatre blinked a couple times. "She's a friend."  
  
"Is that it?"  
  
"What, Heero? It's true. I care very much for everyone. I'd feel the same if Duo did something like this to Hilde."  
  
"Don't lie to me," Heero stared at him in the eyes. "You care for Relena more than that, don't you?"  
  
Quatre couldn't keep Heero's gaze for long, not when he was asking him this question. He looked down to the floor. "Heero, I would never try to take her away from you but I can't lie about my feeling. But Heero, you haven't seen that look on her face. Like what you said about my father and me. Relena knows you're out here and alive, but she can't get to you. Any smile she can give is nothing compared to those waves of emotions."  
  
Heero sighed. "Quatre, I need you to do something for me."  
  
Quatre now looked up at him, ready for anything he was going to get. "Yes, Heero?"  
  
"It's going to take me a long time to find myself -- perhaps, even years. But, since you care for Relena about as much as I do, maybe you can take care of her for me."  
  
"What are you saying, Heero?"  
  
"Relena needs someone to stay with her. The closest maid or butler in that home couldn't make her feel better. She needs moral support. She needs a friend, Quatre, and if you can be that much…"  
  
"Heero, I don't have that kind of will power. I really feel something for her. Do you know what it's like to sleep about six doors down from someone you really feel close to? I can't do it."  
  
"You've done it already. Do this for me, all right Quatre? If you can do this favor for me, then when I come back, I will pay you back anyway possible. Do you understand? Can you do this for me?"  
  
Quatre took in a deep breath. Finally he said, "I won't take any sort of compensation for taking care of Relena. No other except for the fact that you do come back. I can't bear to see that look on her face. And what about Destiny? What do we do when she asks about her father?"  
  
"Simply tell her something that goes along the lines of seeing me one day. And one more thing…"  
  
Quatre was expecting the most difficult challenge, until Heero continued.  
  
"…Send me pictures, Quatre."  
  
Quatre got a surprised look on his face as Heero got up to leave. "What, that's it?"  
  
Heero turned to look at him. "You can work on from there, Quatre. I'll come back and be the best father… and husband… possible." He left the room swiftly, and Quatre knew that if he were to run after him, he would not see any sign of him anywhere.  
  
"But, Heero…" Quatre whispered, rather confused.  
  
***  
  
Rashid watched in awe as Quatre continued what he was doing. Looking over his shoulder, he could faintly read it:  
  
'Data bank  
  
Send to:  
  
E3, Eurasia, Sank Kingdom  
  
Relena Peacecraft'  
  
"She doesn't go by that last name anymore," Quatre mumbled in an amused voice.  
  
'Data sent  
  
Databank cleared'  
  
Quatre shut off the computer and turned around to see Rashid.  
  
"Rashid," he said in a startled voice.  
  
"Master Quatre, I know that when you came home last week you said you were going to move to Earth. But, Master Quatre, the Winners have been in space since colony settlement first began."  
  
"It's not like I'm going to hold everything. I'm still going to have a home in space. Everything is going to stay here. I'm the only thing that's going to move. I'm only going to be on the earth for a few years."  
  
"Years?"  
  
Quatre sighed. He walked over to his desk and began to put a few manila folders in a bag. "That's how long it'll take Heero to go back to Relena."  
  
Rashid shook his head. "She must be a lot more than I thought for you to move. Do you truly feel this much for her?"  
  
"She… she is a very dear friend."  
  
"That's not what I asked. You know what I mean."  
  
Quatre looked down. "Is it that obvious, Rahsid?"  
  
Rashid shook his head. "Excuse me."  
  
Quatre opened up a desk drawer. He pulled out a couple more folders and put them in the tote bag, also.  
  
"When will you be leaving, Master Quatre?"  
  
"Hopefully in a couple days. I want it to be a surprise."  
  
Rashid nodded as Quatre zipped up his bag.  
  
"Could you phone satellite 22 in the L3 colony area and tell them they will need to contact me from a different location for awhile?"  
  
"Yes, Master Quatre. Would you like me to give away the location, as well?"  
  
"Please, Rashid."  
  
Rashid nodded again. This time, he left the room.  
  
Quatre groaned slightly as he picked up the heavy bag. "I just hope this surprise doesn't hurt anyone, Heero."  
  
***  
  
"I can't believe – ow! – that when I was younger, er, quite younger, I – ow! – liked these things."  
  
Wufei was sitting in-between Relena and Sally. Sally had the privilege to hold the tiny girl, but the child seemed most interested in Wufei's ponytail hanging behind his head.  
  
When she reached over and yanked it for the fourth time, Wufei couldn't take it anymore.  
  
"Okay, give it back to its mother."  
  
"Wufei, she's a she, not an it. And no."  
  
Wufei crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the couch.  
  
Relena giggled. "Why don't you give her her pacifier, Wufei?"  
  
Wufei glanced over at her. "Her what?"  
  
Sally rolled her eyes. "It's on the coffee table, Wufei."  
  
Wufei shrugged. "I don't understand your women terms." He looked at the table. "The top of a bottle there?"  
  
"No," Sally said. "The nipple on a bottle is different than a pacifier." She nodded toward the item on the table. "They suck on those."  
  
Wufei grunted, ignoring Sally's sarcasm. "Maybe that will keep her occupied." He reached over and grabbed the item on the table. Then, he sat back and tried to shove it into the baby's mouth.  
  
"Wufei," Sally sighed. "Give that to me."  
  
"Please, don't force it," Relena said.  
  
"I'm not," Wufei grumbled. "Here, just give it to me."  
  
"She's a she, Wufei."  
  
"Give her to me, then."  
  
Sally slowly gave Destiny to Wufei. "Careful, Wufei. Hold her like this --"  
  
"I know how to hold a child."  
  
Wufei took Destiny out of Sally's arms. He held her just right, much to Sally's surprise. He hovered the pacifier outside of Destiny's mouth.  
  
"Open," Wufei pressed. "Come on."  
  
For some reason, the little girl gave him a big toothless grin. Wufei took this opportunity to put the pacifier in her mouth.  
  
Relena and Sally looked at the boy next to them who held the girl with a pacifier, now bobbing up and down, in her mouth. Suddenly, the two girls started laughing at once.  
  
"What?" Wufei asked. "What's so funny?"  
  
"You are, Wufei," Sally managed to say between laughs.  
  
***  
  
"Excuse me, Mr. Winner."  
  
Quatre looked up from his desk to see one of his worker businessmen standing at the door.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Will we be needed on Earth, also?"  
  
"No, that won't be necessary. If they may need me in space I'm come back again."  
  
The man nodded. "Will you be departing today, sir? Should I get a flight?"  
  
"That would be kind of you." Quatre nodded back. "I'll leave tomorrow, but… I'll be taking so much it would probably be best to get one of my own shuttles."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Quatre smiled at the man as he left. Then, for a moment, he had to remember what he was doing a moment ago. He looked down at his phone book with his collection of numbers. He looked over to his videophone and dialed up the number for the Preventer's head office.  
  
***  
  
"You're sure you can't stay longer? You've only been here for four days."  
  
Relena was desperate to keep company as long as she could. And to add onto it, she decided to say, "Duo and Hilde stayed for five days."  
  
Wufei shook his head. "We really need to get back to Preventer Headquarters."  
  
"It's been fun, Relena," Sally said. "You take care of that adorable baby."  
  
"I will," Relena replied, as she stepped outside with her friends. "Take care you two."  
  
"'Bye!"  
  
Relena heard the cry of her baby and went inside. She went over to the small crib that she kept downstairs during the day.  
  
"You must be hungry, honey. Want some juice?"  
  
She didn't get an answer; Destiny continued to cry. Relena picked her up and carried her into the kitchen, trying to hush her on the way. She secured her daughter in her high chair, to which she would babble about something Relena didn't understand. Then, Relena went over to the cupboard and pulled out a cup especially made for juice.  
  
"Apple or orange?" Relena asked more to herself since Destiny did not understand. She picked up a jug. "How about orange? It's a bit more nutritious."  
  
She untwisted the top and poured a little into the cup. A maid walked in at this time and yelped.  
  
"Miss Relena, what are you doing?"  
  
Relena looked up, greeted the girl with a smile, and turned back to the cup of juice. "Fixing my daughter some juice."  
  
"Let me do that for you Miss!"  
  
"No, that's okay." Relena re-twisted the top on the jug. "I've got it." Next, she spun the top on the cup.  
  
"Here, Miss, let me put the juice away --" She took a step forward.  
  
"I've got it," Relena said playfully. "I'm not completely helpless."  
  
The girl frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry to disturb you Miss, but a young man is here to see you. He says it's urgent."  
  
By now, Relena had put the juice away. She was giving Destiny a drink when her eyes widened. 'A young man'? 'Urgent'? These were things that could be associated with Heero.  
  
"Watch her please," Relena said, letting Destiny take the cup herself. She left the room quickly without giving the maid time to respond.  
  
Relena held every chance that Heero had changed his mind as she rushed into the living room, where she saw the door was open. So she headed over there and looked out. Déjà vu. She frowned slightly. There was a large limo outside; two people were carrying things out. The driver and –  
  
"Quatre," Relena said surprised,  
  
Quatre walked over to her with a tote bag slung over his left shoulder. "Hi, Relena. I'm back."  
  
Relena looked even more surprised. "Back?"  
  
"You didn't think I was going to leave forever, did you?"  
  
"Er… well… I thought you'd come back. But it's been only – what? Three weeks?"  
  
Quatre sighed. "Relena, can I admit something to you?" He glanced over as the driver came up with the last luggage and nodded to the floor. Here, the man set it down, turned, and left.  
  
"Now, Relena, I know I'm not Destiny's father…"  
  
Relena's eyes widened. Where was he going with this?  
  
"But if I could be the fatherly image in her life… just until Heero comes back."  
  
Relena opened her mouth to say something, but he wasn't done yet. He put a few fingers over her lips to keep her silent.  
  
"Please, hear me out. If you don't want to, that's fine. I just want to do this because I know what it's like not having two parents. But I will take care of you two, no matter what. Alright?"  
  
Relena looked like she was about to cry, but she didn't. She could kind of see where Quatre was coming from. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Alright, Quatre. Will you be here until Heero comes back?"  
  
Quatre smiled at her warmth. There weren't many people he felt this warm around. He buried his face in her hair.  
  
"I promise, Relena," he whispered. Saying silently in his head, 'I hope you know what you're doing, Heero.'  
  
The end of Chapter 3  
  
Sorry it was so short, it was longer written out. I swear. Anyways, as always, thanks for reading. I'm getting such nice reviews! 


	5. Chapter 4

A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl  
  
1 Chapter 4  
  
  
  
Four years later... (A.C. 205)  
  
He wasn't 'Father', which was good. Although she had met Duo, Trowa, and Wufei and knew them as uncles, he was not 'Uncle Quatre'. Indeed, Quatre was called 'Quatre' and was treated more like a close, loving friend.  
  
She could tell him secrets, and he would tell her things, too. She always wanted to be around either him or her mother. And, although many questions about Quatre always floated in the four-in-a-half-year old girl's mind, she was raised to be too polite to ask such things.  
  
To this little girl, the best place in the world was the park. The wind would blow her honey blonde hair everywhere, which felt nice and cool. Plus, her and Quatre had so much fun at the swings, or slides, or monkey bars, or the other fun items the park had. Her Prussian blue eyes were always sparkling with joy.  
  
Destiny giggled from atop Quatre's shoulders as he carried her over to the stand that sold ice cream. Quatre never failed to find a way to spoil her… for some reason.  
  
"What can I get ya?" asked the man.  
  
Quatre and Destiny both grinned. "A sundae and a strawberry and vanilla swirl, please."  
  
The man nodded at Quatre and went to work on the two requests. Soon, he handed Quatre a bowl and a cone along with a few napkins. Quatre paid the man and walked off.  
  
"M-m-m," Quatre said as he held the cone close to him. "Strawberry and vanilla swirl ice cream."  
  
"Hey," whined the girl on his shoulder. "That's my ice cream!"  
  
Quatre chuckled and held it up over his head so she could reach it. "I know. I'm smarter than to eat your favorite ice cream."  
  
He came to a large fountain that was surrounded by a two-foot tall wall. Here, visitors usually sat. He picked Destiny up off of him and sat her on the wall.  
  
"Aww," she whined again.  
  
"'Aww' nothing," Quatre replied as he sat next to her. "I don't want your dripping ice cream on my head."  
  
She giggled and started to lick her ice cream. Quatre glanced at the water behind him and looked back to Destiny. He smiled and reached into his pants pocket. "Want to make a wish, Angel?"  
  
Destiny nodded eagerly. She watched Quatre pull a coin out and hand it to her.  
  
"Now remember, you can't tell what you wished for, or it won't come true."  
  
Destiny nodded again. She stood up and turned around. She closed her eyes for a second, to make her wish, then opened them and they the coin in. Quatre smiled at the 'plop' noise the object made when it hit the water.  
  
"So, what'd you wish for?"  
  
Destiny giggled. "I can't tell, or it won't come true." Suddenly, some of Destiny's ice cream fell on her light blue shirt. "Oops."  
  
Quatre sat his bowl down and reached for the napkin. He quickly wiped the ice cream off, but you could see a purplish color pot on her shirt, along with hints of drips. But, ever so happy Destiny didn't seem to care. She gave Quatre a big smile. "Why don't you make a wish, Quatre?"  
  
"Okay." Quatre reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin, tossing it behind him.  
  
"What'd you wish for?" Destiny asked playfully.  
  
Quatre looked over at her. "I wished that your mother won't kill me when she sees that stain."  
  
"Uh-oh."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You shouldn't have said it, now your wish won't come true."  
  
Quatre picked the girl up from the little wall and sat her on the ground. He then took his bowl and the two began to walk together. "I'm afraid I'm going to need a bit more than a wish to get pass your mother."  
  
The two passed by the car that they rode there in. Pagan, who was sitting inside, was waiting for them. He was so old now, and Quatre and Relena tried to make sure he didn't do much. Nevertheless, Pagan refused to stop taking care of Relena and they couldn't fight with him.  
  
"Look, Quatre," Destiny piped up. She pointed to the long pink car. "It's Mr. Pagan."  
  
Quatre smiled and looked over to the car. Pagan looked over at them. Quatre nodded to him, which signaled that he and Destiny were going to walk the short distance back to Sanc. Pagan nodded back and drove off.  
  
Destiny soon finished her ice cream, but she didn't like the taste of the cone. She held it up to Quatre in her, now, sticky hand. "Here, I'm done."  
  
Quatre chuckled and took it from her. "Well, gee, thanks. Mind if I finish it?"  
  
She shrugged. "I don't mind. I don't like the taste."  
  
So, Quatre began to eat the sticky cone. Quatre stopped after a few bites. "I hope she doesn't mind that you got dessert. All well, it's a few hours until dinner."  
  
She giggled. "You're starting to sound like Uncle Duo."  
  
"Oh my gosh," Quatre said with wide eyes. "I am."  
  
Now she started a fit of laughter at Quatre's surprised look. "It's okay. When we get home, I'll get Mr. Cuddles and he'll make you feel all better."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Your welcome!"  
  
The two continued walking until the Sanc Kingdom's gate could be seen. Then, Destiny just ran the rest of the way. Quatre continued at his own pace, and he wasn't that far behind anyways. He soon caught up to the girl who kept pushing the intercom button.  
  
"Hey Mommy," she yelled in. "Open the gate!"  
  
After a few moments the gate began to slowly open and Relena's voice came over the 'com. "Not so loud next time, dear. I think everyone heard you."  
  
Destiny giggled and ran pass the gates, Quatre following behind her.  
  
'She better stop,' Quatre thought. 'She's going to fall and hurt herself.'  
  
At that moment, Destiny tripped and fell on her knees and hands. She started to cry fro the pain the ground had caused her. Then, when she saw that she was started to bleed, she cried even harder. Relena had seen the whole thing at the doorway, and ran over to her.  
  
Quatre sighed as he came over to the two girls. Relena was hugging the little girl to her tightly; telling her it was going to be okay.  
  
"Relena," he said. The two girls looked over at him. "Do you want me to go get the band-aids?"  
  
"No, I'll carry her up to the bathroom. Can you get the door for me?"  
  
"Yes," Quatre said as he followed her inside.  
  
Relena sat her down at the counter next to the faucet. She pulled out the peroxide, a box of band-aids, and some cotton balls.  
  
Destiny's eyes widened when she saw the black bottle, she cried even worse than before. "Not the stingy stuff! I don't like the stingy stuff!" She jumped off the counter and went to run out the door. Quatre caught her and carried the struggling girl back to the counter. But he didn't set her down.  
  
"It's okay Relena," Quatre said. "She doesn't want the stingy stuff, so we'll just take her to the hospital and she can have surgery.  
  
"No-o-o," the girl complained.  
  
Quatre sat her on the counter. "Then let your mother put some peroxide on it. Close your eyes, it won't hurt that much. A physical pain is better than a mental one." The girl pouted, but she closed her eyes and covered them with her hands.  
  
"Thanks Quatre," Relena said. She took a cotton ball, dabbed it with the peroxide and rubbed it on her daughter's arm.  
  
Destiny hissed with pain. "Ow, ow, ow!"  
  
"Don't think about it," Quatre suggested to her.  
  
Relena put a band-aid over the spot on the arm, and then moved to her leg. She did the same thing there. And so, now Destiny had a band-aid on his arm and leg, and had her eyes still covered. Quatre caught Relena's eye and they smiled at each other. Quatre turned back to Destiny and tapped her shoulder.  
  
"It's all over."  
  
Destiny uncovered her eyes to see that Relena was done. She put her arms out and wrapped them around Quatre's neck. "Down please." Quatre thought this amusing since she could get off it herself. But he picked her up and sat her on the ground anyways. "Thank you," she said in the cutest voice she could. "I'm hurt now so I'm going to get Mr. Cuddles." Destiny ran out of the bathroom and to her room.  
  
Quatre continued smiling at Relena, and she kept smiling back. Finally, Relena let out a sigh. "I'm going to go make some tea. Would you like any?"  
  
"No thanks," Quatre replied. "I'm pretty full."  
  
"Really? Because, I believe when I was eating for two, you were the one who said you can't ever be too full for tea."  
  
"Yeah, but I think I had too much ice cream." Quatre mentally kicked himself once he said that.  
  
"Aha! So that's what you two ate. I wondered what that stain on her shirt was."  
  
Quatre frowned. "I'm sorry, Relena."  
  
Relena shook her head. "No, it's okay. She should be able to eat some of her dinner."  
  
Quatre nodded. Relena walked pass him and down the hall. He watched her until she reached the steps, to at this time he yelled, "Relena!"  
  
Relena stopped and turned to see Quatre running down the hall to meet with her.  
  
"On second thought, I would love a nice cup. Please?"  
  
Relena tried not to laugh at his childlike behavior. "Alright. Come on." She started down the steps, and Quatre quickly followed.  
  
Pagan sat a tray with saucers and cups on the table. He handed one to Quatre, and then to Relena.  
  
"Thank you," Quatre said quietly.  
  
"Really, Pagan. I said I could make it."  
  
"Nonsense, Miss, that's what I'm here for. I made a smaller cup for Miss Destiny, in case she were to care for any."  
  
Relena looked thoughtful. "I wonder if she would like any."  
  
At that exact moment, Destiny came running into the dining room. Wrapped in her arms, was a little brown bear. The red bow around its neck had been retied multiple times, but it still looked brand new.  
  
"There you are," Relena said playfully. "Would you like some tea?"  
  
"Uh huh." Then she held up the teddy bear. "Can Mr. Cuddles have some tea too, Mommy?"  
  
"No, Destiny. Mr. Cuddles can sit in the chair. No toys at the table, you know that."  
  
Destiny nodded and sat her teddy bear on a chair by the door. Pagan gave a slight bow before he exited the room.  
  
Mommy had told Destiny many stories. And there was a story behind Mr. Cuddles, too. When Destiny was two, she took a fond interest to the stuffed animal that sat on her mommy's bed. When Relena noticed this, she told her that she could have the bear if she was careful with it. Once Destiny asked why Relena loved the bear so much, she said that her father gave it to her.  
  
Back when her mommy had Mr. Cuddles, he was named Heero bear. But Destiny didn't know what that was so she renamed it Mr. Cuddles. She wondered when Daddy gave it to Mommy, and sometimes thought about asking Quatre about it. But then, she thought it would lead to an 'awkward situation'.  
  
Destiny walked over to her chair and climbed up to sit on it. She sat down and looked between Relena and Quatre. Relena pushed Destiny's cup closer to her so that she could reach it.  
  
"Thank you Mommy," she said cheerfully.  
  
Quatre grinned as Destiny took a big sip of it. Then she sat the cup down with a large exhale and continued looking between Relena and Quatre.  
  
Relena seemed interest in an article she was reading out of a family magazine. But Destiny could see that Quatre kept looking over at Relena. The weird thing was, Quatre had a funny look on his face, almost like he was thirsty and he had a drink in front of him. It didn't bother her though; she knew that he did that a lot.  
  
Quatre noticed Destiny was looking at him. His whole face turned red for some reason unknown to the girl, and became more interested in his teacup. In fact, she didn't see him look up again.  
  
He ended up being the first of the three to finish his tea. He quickly excused himself and left the room. Destiny gave his retreating back a sad look and was afraid that it was her that made him leave so fast.  
  
"I'm done, Mommy," she told Relena.  
  
"Okay." Relena knew her daughter to never drink all of her tea anyways.  
  
Destiny hopped off the chair and went after Quatre, grabbing Mr. Cuddles as she went pass it.  
  
She pranced down the hall, looking in all the rooms for Quatre. Then, a few doors down, she heard a soft musical sound. She slowly walked to the door and peeked in. Quatre was playing a violin.  
  
She got a bright smile. Quatre played a lot of the instruments. Everyone in that room, actually. She liked how he could make the violin sound so nice. He got her to try it once, and the only thing she made was a loud, earsplitting screech.  
  
Destiny walked in quietly as Quatre finished. As soon as he did, she started clapping eagerly. The sudden noise made Quatre jump. When he saw it was only her, he sighed in relief.  
  
"Was that another song you made up, Quatre?"  
  
Quatre nodded as he out the violin back in its case. "Yeah."  
  
"It was pretty."  
  
He smiled appreciatively. "Thank you. Would you like to try?"  
  
She made a face and shook her head. "I can't make it sound pretty like you can."  
  
Quatre chuckled as he sat the violin case off to the side with other instruments.  
  
"Will you play me a song, Quatre?"  
  
Quatre looked up to her. He nodded and walked over to the black grand piano. He sat down and patted the spot next to him. She hopped over and climbed up to sit next to him.  
  
"Okay," Quatre said as he examined the keys. "What do you want me to play?"  
  
She shrugged. "I dunno. Anything you want."  
  
Quatre nodded. He put his hands over the keys and began to play a sweet little tune. It was beautiful. It seemed to symbolize his emotions. Each note he could play like he knew the song by heart. He closed his eyes and let his hands glide across the keys. Every so often, pushing down on a pedal to hold a note longer.  
  
The song was only about a minute long, but to Destiny it was the prettiest thing she'd ever heard. And when he lifted his hands off the last three notes, she gave him enough applause for an audience.  
  
"That was great, Quatre! I loved it."  
  
"You love everything I play," Quatre teased. "You flatterer."  
  
Destiny didn't know what a flatterer was, but the way Quatre said it, it must have been something good. She gave him a big grin. "It was good!"  
  
"I agree," came a voice from the doorway.  
  
The two turned their heads to see Relena smiling at them. Quatre smiled back. "Thanks, Relena."  
  
"Mommy," Destiny said excitedly. She jumped off her spot and ran over to her, holding onto Mr. Cuddles tightly so she wouldn't drop him. "Will you play dollies with me?"  
  
Relena gave her a sad look. "I can't. I have a statement to read."  
  
Destiny looked really disappointed. Quatre stood up and walked over.  
  
"I'll read it for you and summarize it for you, Relena," he offered.  
  
"Quatre -- "  
  
"I can. You spend time with your daughter. Besides, you know those things. The writer says the same thing through the whole document, he just rephrases the thesis on every line."  
  
Destiny didn't understand what Quatre said, but it made her mommy giggle.  
  
"Only if you want," Relena told him. "I don't want to force you."  
  
Quatre waved her off. "Don't worry about it. You're not forcing me – you didn't even ask me. I'll be fine."  
  
"Okay, it's the only thing on top of my desk." Quatre nodded and left the room. Relena looked over at Destiny and smiled. "Let's go find you some dollies, hon." The two headed for Destiny's room.  
  
Destiny tackled a big box in her closet where she kept her dolls that couldn't fit in her room. Most of the tings inhabiting her room were stuffed animals. She opened up the box and began to shuffle through them all.  
  
Relena bent down on her knees and began to help her pull some out. She warned her that they weren't to get out anymore than four, though. So she had to pick four out of her whole collection.  
  
During the search for the third doll, Destiny stopped and looked up at her mom. Relena stopped as well and looked back at her. "What is it?"  
  
"Mommy... do you love Quatre?"  
  
Relena sat there looking at her in disbelief. After a moment she shook her head. "I love your daddy."  
  
Destiny slowly nodded her head. "Okay, Mommy."  
  
Relena never has told Destiny about Heero. Destiny has never asked about her father, so Relena has spared her heart by not discussing it. The thing was, whenever Relena used the word 'Daddy', Destiny acted like she knew Heero and understood what Relena was talking about. Plus, if she ever tried to talk about it, Destiny didn't want to and would change the subject, which Relena found interesting for a four year old to do. So, Relena thought of it as being in Destiny's best interest to not bring up the subject.  
  
Relena smiled. "I love him dearly as a friend. How about you?"  
  
Destiny beamed as she began to count on her fingers. "I love Quatre, I love you, I love Uncle Duo and Aunt Hilde, I love Uncle Wufei and Aunt Sally, I love Uncle Trowa, I love Aunt Catherine – 'cause she saved me – and I love Mr. Pagan, and I love Cook, and -- "  
  
"Okay, honey, okay," Relena said sweetly. "I get the picture. You love the whole universe."  
  
"Uh huh," Destiny nodded her head enthusiastically. "Because it didn't do anything to me, right Mommy?"  
  
"Right." Relena gave her daughter a proud look.  
  
"So… Okay Mommy," Destiny said now getting back to the dolls in the box. "Let's play dollies now."  
  
"Okay," Relena said as he helped her daughter quickly pick out two more dolls.  
  
***  
  
"Distaste of air," Quatre mumbled as he read through the document again. "What does he want, fresh air shipped in a bottle?" Some guy was complaining that he went to the colonies for the first time and didn't like the difference in the air there. Air on the colonies was the last thing Quatre would expect to hear a complaint about. When he was younger, he didn't know the difference until he set foot on the earth. This man was just too used to Earth.  
  
He decided this was definitely not worthy enough to take Elena's free time with her daughter away. Besides, this might come up at the next meeting, and by how badly this paper was written… Relena wouldn't be missing much.  
  
Quatre quickly discarded the paper into a manila folder and opened a drawer to stick the folder in. He opened up the middle drawer to get a pen or pencil to label the folder with, when something caught his eye. He knew he shouldn't be nosey, but he pulled the item out anyways.  
  
The item ended up being a collection of pictures hooked together by a paperclip. He figured that if he'd gone this far, it wouldn't hurt to look at them now.  
  
The first picture was a picture of Destiny, which he guessed the picture was about a year old. She looked so cute just giving the camera her biggest smile. He put this picture to the back of the pile and looked at the next one.  
  
This picture was about a year old, too. Destiny was sitting on a slide in the park, ready to slide down. Relena was watching a few feet away. Quatre remembered this day; he took the picture. Right before he snapped it, Relena, in her big winter coat, complained how cold it was and for Quatre to take a picture fast. You could see some snow in the background, but not the breath in the air like you could that day. With a big smile on his face, Quatre moved this picture to the back of the pile again to look at the next one.  
  
His smiled faded slightly at the next picture. It was a picture of Heero and Relena. They were just lying on the couch. A sleeping Heero held a wide- awake Relena. He wondered who took the picture. He shrugged and put this picture in the back, as well.  
  
The last picture took him by surprise. It was a picture of Destiny and himself. It must have been one of those nights Destiny had a nightmare, because they were both asleep in his room. Relena must have snuck that picture. He put this picture in the back so the first one he saw was now the first one again.  
  
He replaced the paperclip and put them back in the drawer, keeping in mind the original reason he had opened the drawer was to search for a pencil or pen. He did find a pencil and labeled the folder before putting it in the bottom drawer. He replaced the pencil and made sure everything was still as neat as before, before leaving.  
  
He passed Relena and Destiny's rooms – both of which were empty – and went straight to his room. As soon as he got inside the room, he got a call. He went over to his videophone on his desk and clicked the 'answering' button.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
Duo's face popped up on screen. "Yo, Q-man. How's like?"  
  
Quatre gave Duo a warm smile. "Just fine, thank you, Duo."  
  
"Hey, Quatre... we were wonderin' – me and Hilde – if you guys could come visit us in space."  
  
"Huh? Come visit you?" Quatre's voice got suspicious. "I was asked to come home a couple weeks ago, Duo, what's going on?"  
  
"I don't know what'cha mean. We just wanna see you guys. Honest."  
  
Quatre sighed. "I have to talk to Relena about that and you know it."  
  
"Than ask her if you three can come. 'Sides, Destiny's never been to space, it'd be a good experience. C'mon!"  
  
"I'll see, Duo." Quatre waved at him. "Really."  
  
From behind Duo, Quatre could see Hilde's dark hair. She call out to him, "You better come see us Quatre Winner."  
  
Duo cringed. "You just can't fight a girl's order, Q-man. Don't try."  
  
Quatre smiled at the two of them. "I told you, Duo. I'll see what Relena has to say."  
  
"Okay – and, uh, Quatre?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Could you call Wufei for me?"  
  
"Call him for you? Why?"  
  
"Long story, just tell him Duo called."  
  
Quatre sighed. "You sure put a lot of things on my shoulders, Duo."  
  
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. So, I'll see ya in person in a couple days."  
  
Quatre sighed. "We'll see, good-bye."  
  
Duo and Hilde replied with a 'bye' simultaneously before the screen went black.  
  
Quatre sighed. He didn't understand it. People wanted him in space; Duo wanted him to call Wufei. He wasn't quite sure of what Duo had said. Something weird was going on. He knew it.  
  
  
  
The End of Chapter 4!!!  
  
I'm so excited; my favorite chapter is coming up next… I just have to type it… Anyways, thanks for the good reviews so far, thanks for reviewing now, and of course, as always, thanks for reading.  
  
And now, for a limited time only (hehe) e-mail me (KatRWinner@gundamwing.net) with anything you might wanna talk about. Where I'm going, spoil the story for you, why I have the weirdest cat in the world… how it is possible for Quatre to be that cute, I don't think it is possible, …um I'm sure you can think of something. I don't get emails in that acount except from my mailing list, so… yeah. 


	6. Chapter 5

A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl  
  
Chapter 5  
  
  
  
Of course, Relena didn't object to the idea of going into space. She missed the colonies so much and she even volunteered a personal shuttle for them.  
  
They got one of those planes where you had two seats facing two other seats. Quatre sat across from Relena and Destiny. Relena let Destiny sit by the window, besides, she could see out the window just fine from her spot. Quatre leaned his head against the window as he watched the to girls across from him.  
  
"Destiny," Relena said. "I want to show you something my father told me once." Destiny gave her a quizzical look. Relena pointed out the window. "See the earth?" Quatre even turned his head to see what was going on. "Don't ever forget how beautiful it looks from afar."  
  
Destiny grinned at the pretty Earth, trying desperately to hold her neck up high enough to see out the window – especially with the belt holding her down.  
  
This didn't go unnoticed. Quatre grinned at her. "Hey, Destiny."  
  
Destiny stopped stretching her neck and looked over at Quatre. She saw the mischievous look in his eyes. So did Relena, who got a worried look.  
  
"Do you know what one of the best parts of space is?" When the little girl shook her head, he went on. "Do you know what gravity is?" When she shook her head again, he chuckled. "Let me show you."  
  
Quatre unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up. Suddenly he pushed up off the ground, which, on Earth, could be known as a jump… except he didn't come back down. He stayed in the air. Chuckling at Destiny's surprised look, he floated off.  
  
Destiny hopped up and down in her seat. "I wanna do that, Quatre! How do I do it? Can I do it, Mommy? Please?"  
  
Relena smiled at her lightly. "I suppose. Be careful, don't hit your head."  
  
Destiny grinned and unbuckled her seatbelt. She hopped off her seat and was surprised when she didn't land. "Look, Mommy," she said cheerfully. "I'm flying!" Suddenly she paused and looked over at Quatre who was looking out a window upside-down. "How do I move?"  
  
Quatre looked over at her. "Just push your weight to a certain direction." He gave her an example by floating over to her. "See?"  
  
"Oh," she said happily. She jerked to the right, like she was trying to run into something. She ended up rolling over in that direction.  
  
Quatre laughed. "Not so hard!" He glanced down to Relena who was smiling. When she saw the glint in his eyes she looked back out the window. Quatre landed on the ground and put his hand on the back of her seat. She already knew what was coming.  
  
"Come on Relena," he said playfully. "You know you want to have some fun."  
  
"That's so childish," Relena said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.  
  
"Duo and I used to do this all the time," Quatre said as he hopped in front of her. He paused for a moment. "Point taken."  
  
She giggled at him. "Alright. But don't expect me to be up for a long time."  
  
Quatre took back off into the air, where Destiny was starting to get used to how to maneuver in 0 gravity. Destiny slowly stopped and she and Quatre watched her mommy for a moment.  
  
Relena sighed. She unbuckled her own seatbelt and stood up. "I haven't gotten off the ground in years." Relena, herself, wasn't sure if that was a complaint as she hovered above the floor. "Okay, I'm floating. Happy, Quatre?"  
  
Quatre chuckled. He came over to her and touched her shoulder, looking right into her eyes, he said sweetly and slowly, "You're it." Then took off. Destiny giggled and followed him.  
  
Relena tightened her hands into fists. "This is so childish. The vice foreign minister playing tag in the air." She got a funny look in her eyes. "Okay, guys. Here I come." She headed right for the cockpit where she saw the two go.  
  
When she got in the room, she saw Quatre was on the ground looking out the window. He had a sad look on his face. He gave the pilot a glance; he nodded in return. Destiny, however, was floating in the background waving all of her limbs asking Quatre how to land.  
  
Relena sighed. She came up from behind Destiny and wrapped her arms around her waist. Destiny was surprised and jumped. She turned her head around to see Relena and relaxed slightly. Relena pulled both of them down to the ground. "You push all your weight down," she advised.  
  
When the two girls touched the ground Relena hugged her daughter, who said she'd remember the tip and hugged her mommy back. Relena looked over to Quatre, who seemed to have lost his playfulness quite fast. Plus, it was unlike him to ignore Destiny like that. She walked over to Quatre, Destiny following after. Destiny had never seen that look on Quatre's face before.  
  
"Quatre," Relena said. "What's wrong?"  
  
Quatre looked over at her out of the corner of his eye. Seeing he seemed to relax him slightly. "Relena," Quatre said quietly. "Can I talk to you?"  
  
Relena gave Quatre a worried look before she nodded. She looked over at Destiny. "Stay here dear, okay?"  
  
Destiny nodded as Relena and Quatre went back to the seating area of the plane. Relena faced Quatre with his upset look on his face.  
  
"What's wrong? Quatre? Did that pilot say something to upset you?"  
  
"No, it's just… He gave me this." Quatre held up a piece of paper. Relena looked at it for a long moment, before she took it out of his hand and looked at it herself.  
  
'Colony L4 – Statistics  
  
Literacy Rate: 86%  
  
Birth Rate(for every 1,000): 12  
  
Death Rate(for every 1,000): 12  
  
Life Expectancy: 61'  
  
Quatre noticed Relena's look and sighed. "Rashid sent that to me. I guess managing a colony from Earth is quite more difficult than in the colony itself. Everything's changed dramatically. Our literacy rate used to be 98%. Birth rate was 17, and death rate was 8. The life expectant was even 73. I don't understand why he waited so long to send this to me."  
  
Relena looked up to Quatre with sorrowful eyes. "Quatre... I'm sorry..."  
  
"You don't need to be sorry," Quatre said bitterly. "I should have made more frequent trips up here than just once a month. I went against my better judgment."  
  
"Quatre, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself."  
  
"Yes, I should. My colony used to take care of people so well... Now look at what I've done."  
  
Relena watched him float down an aisle and sit in a chair, just looking out the window. Relena and Quatre sighed at the same time. She knew when he got like this it'd be hard to get him out of it. Relena felt a tug on her arm. She looked down to see her little girl looking up at her.  
  
Destiny frowned. "Mommy, why's Quatre so sad?"  
  
Relena picked her daughter up. "It's hard to explain, dear."  
  
***  
  
Relena waited until the landed before saying anything else to Quatre. When they did land, she turned to him and gave him her warmest smile. He still had that sour look on his face, but his eyes brightened slightly. Yet, it wasn't until Relena said, "Destiny, smile at Quatre," and Quatre got that cute little kid look, that he cracked a smile.  
  
The limo ride to the Winner mansion was rather short. Destiny enjoyed it, anyways. It wasn't until the large golden gates appeared that her eyes really shimmered. "This is where you live, Quatre?" Destiny asked without looking away from the window.  
  
Quatre nodded. "Yes, I have. All my life."  
  
"Wow, Mommy. Quatre's house is bigger than ours."  
  
Relena smiled at her and Quatre smirked.  
  
"Yes, and going up and down those stairs is really good exercise."  
  
"That's why you're so thin," Relena joked.  
  
When the limo pulled up, Destiny was ready to jump out, when someone opened the door for her.  
  
"Ma'am," the man said, and stood to the side to let her out.  
  
Destiny grinned at him. "Thank you!" She hopped out of the car and turned to see Relena. "Just like Mr. Pagan, huh Mommy?"  
  
Relena frowned slightly at what she said. Pagan was ill when they left and she felt so bad about leaving him like that. But, of course, Pagan told her to go on, have a good time and not worry about him. Nevertheless, Relena nodded at her daughter. Relena scooted out of the limo, with a nod from the man.  
  
Next, Quatre came out and the man straightened as best he could. "Sir," he said.  
  
Quatre faintly smiled at him. "Hello, Gordon. How's Jr.?"  
  
Gordon smiled. "He's going to school in the fall."  
  
"That's good," Quatre said. He beckoned for the two girls to follow him. Destiny skipped after him and Relena went at her own pace.  
  
Quatre took two steps into his home before he was enveloped in a hug.  
  
"Master Quatre, you're back! Oh, I missed you so much!"  
  
Quatre recognized the voice. "Cook, how are you?"  
  
The heavy lady pulled away and looked teary eyed. "Oh, Master Quatre, it's been so boring around here without you!" She glanced over to see Destiny. The girl jumped when she was noticed and hid behind her mommy's leg.  
  
Cook grinned. "I see you've been busy, Master Quatre," she said playfully.  
  
Quatre's eyes widened. He looked over at Destiny, back to Cook and shook his head vigorously. "No, Cook, these are my friends: Relena and her daughter, Destiny."  
  
Cook did her best to curtsy. "Vice foreign minister Darlian, it's been awhile."  
  
"Yes it has," Relena agreed.  
  
"Cook," Quatre said, with a serious tone that got everyone's attention. "I need to work. Do you happen to know where Rashid is?"  
  
"If you go to your office, you may find out. But, I warn you: proceed at your own discretion."  
  
Quatre didn't like the way she said that. He took off in a run for his office. Relena looked startled.  
  
"Quatre, wait for me!" Destiny called. She started off after him.  
  
Relena sighed. "Destiny Darlian, I know you are not running in the house." Destiny heard this and steadied to a pace, knowing to always do what her mother told her.  
  
***  
  
Quatre took one look in his office and thought he was going to faint.  
  
First of all, it was a mess. There were papers all over the floor and desk. The faxing machine was going nuts. All of the file drawers were open; Rashid was currently looking through one of them. Auda was looking through the desk and pulling out more papers. Abdul was typing at the computer quickly. And, as if things couldn't look worse, the fan was on and it was blowing things around.  
  
Quatre was still standing there in shock when he heard a shocker, "Master Quatre!" behind him. The name caught the attention of the three men who were in the room. They all looked up to see Quatre, but Quatre turned his head to see who said his name.  
  
There was Afmahd. He had a tower of manila folders in his hands. He gave Quatre the best smile he could before he hurried into the room.  
  
"Master Quatre," Abdul said, surprised. He started typing faster than before.  
  
A sheet of paper was blown through the air by the fan and Auda caught it. "We were just about to clean this up, Master."  
  
"Master Quatre, you came back quickly," Rashid said.  
  
Afmahd sat the manila folders on Quatre's desk. "The room doesn't usually look like this," he assured.  
  
Quatre pulled the sheet of paper he showed to Relena on the plane out. He waved it around with a rather upset expression. "What's this, huh? Can someone share?"  
  
The men glanced at each other before they all started talking at the same time. Quatre closed his eyes and shook his head. He walked over and slammed the paper on his desk, scaring them all.  
  
"All right, we're going to work on this. But first, Abdul and Afmahd, could you pick the room up, please? Rashid, can you close the file drawers, we'll reorganize them later. Auda, I'm going to need something strong."  
  
"Yes Master," the all said at the same time as all of them scrambled to do their certain tasks while Quatre collapsed onto his chair.  
  
Destiny acknowledged the tall man, who came out of Quatre's office and quickly ran pass her down the hall. Sometimes it annoyed her how grownups could do things she couldn't – like run in a house. Of course, she was sure to never complain to her mommy.  
  
Destiny looked in Quatre's office. She saw three men moving around quickly with Quatre sitting off to the side. His head was down on his desk, as if in frustration. Relena came up behind her daughter and stared in awe at the mess of the room. Quatre picked his head up and saw the two girls standing in the doorway.  
  
"You two might want to make sure you get a room," he said. He picked up a bunch of papers and shuffled them. "I'm going to be here for a long time."  
  
Destiny gave Quatre a sad look. That meant she probably wouldn't see him for a long time. Relena gave Quatre somewhat the same look Destiny had on her face, before she pushed the girl off.  
  
Destiny took her time down the steps when she saw something that looked like a brown snake disappear pass a corner of the hall that was in front of the steps. She blinked trying to think of what it was. She grinned and went down the steps faster. Relena watched her daughter jump off the last step and skip to the hallway; she picked up her pace to follow.  
  
Destiny turned right when she got to the hall and a bigger grin came across her face when she saw something near the end of the hall. She forgot her mommy's warning and broke off in a run shouting, "Uncle Duo!"  
  
Duo pulled his head out of the room he was looking in and shut the door. Wondering who said his name, he turned his head to look down the hall. His own grin plastered across his face when he saw the little girl run towards him. He dropped down to one knee and stretched his arms out. Destiny ran right into them, to which Duo wrapped his arms around her and picked her up.  
  
Destiny wasn't allowed to have favorites, but if she could have a favorite uncle it would be Duo. She saw him more. Plus, he was nicer to her. Not to mention the only one, besides Mommy and Quatre, that tried to use words she could understand.  
  
There was only one thing she found strange about Uncle Duo – and it wasn't his three-foot long braid. Sometimes, when Duo stays at her house, he brings Aunt Hilde with him. At nights, when she has nightmares, she'll usually head to Quatre's room, because his room is two doors closer than Mommy's. Well, she has to pass by the room Duo and Hilde use. And every time she did, she would hear the strangest noises coming from their room.  
  
She always wondered why they weren't asleep at one in the morning. Of course, she knew it was impolite to ask such things. So, she kept such questions to herself.  
  
"How're you, kid-o?"  
  
"Great! How are you Uncle Duo?"  
  
"Good." Duo noticed Relena walking toward them and grinned at her. "How's life, Relena?"  
  
Relena nodded when she realized what got her daughter so excited. "Just fine, Duo. Thank you."  
  
Duo sat Destiny on the ground, his braid sliding over his shoulders as he did so. Destiny gave it a playful tug before he stood up again. Duo gave Relena a sly look before he walked over and engulfed her in a hug. He pretended to cry as he said, "Oh, I can't believe you didn't come to give me a hug. I missed you Relena!" He did a couple sniffs and sobs to add onto the dramatic scene.  
  
Relena sighed. She patted Duo's back. "It's okay, Duo."  
  
Duo picked his head up. "Really? It is?"  
  
"Yes." Relena looked at him for a moment before looking over at her daughter. She smiled. "Duo, can I talk to you for a moment?"  
  
Duo allowed Relena to pull him to the side. "What's up, Relena?"  
  
"I don't want Destiny to hear this, because I don't want to get her hopes up. But Duo, Quatre is stuck working and today isn't a good day for me. Could you take Destiny out?"  
  
Duo shrugged. "Sure Relena. Since this is our first date I'll be good and bring her home by ten --"  
  
Relena poked his chest. "You know what I mean."  
  
Duo grinned. "Sure. Where do you want me to take her?"  
  
"I don't care... how about a movie? And nothing over PG!"  
  
"Okay, okay," Duo said, waving his hands in defense. "But if ya don't mind my askin', why can't you take her?"  
  
"Two reasons: PMS and I'm starting to cramp."  
  
Duo nodded in understanding. "Ah, okay. Well, I'm off!" He started to walk pass her when Relena stopped him.  
  
"Oh, and Duo."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Her bedtime's at eight thirty, try to have her home before ten." She smiled at him and he winked back.  
  
"'K, kid-o!" Duo said to the little girl cheerfully. "Let's --"  
  
"I'm ready! I'm ready! There's a movie I want to see, too!" Destiny hopped up and down.  
  
Duo blinked in surprise. How had she heard? Did she inherit more from Heero than just his looks? Nah, he was just imagining things. "Well, alright! Let's get in my car." He picked her up and carried her out upside down.  
  
"Bye Mommy!" she was able to yell between giggled. Relena smiled and waved back.  
  
***  
  
Destiny had only been the passenger of a car driven by Duo once. And she had been in the backseat, because Duo was driving Relena to a meeting.  
  
Now, Destiny found nothing wrong with riding with Uncle Duo. They were going about 70 down a 55 MPH road. Destiny was looking out the window at all the passing objects. The radio was turned up loud, too. She smiled when she realized Uncle Duo like to sing along to the radio.  
  
"And like a true nature's child,  
  
We were born, born to be wild!  
  
We can climb so high,  
  
I never want to die."  
  
Destiny giggled at the way he sand that last note.  
  
"Born to be wild!"  
  
Destiny sighed and continued looking out the window, as Uncle Duo seemed to be enjoying himself on the other side of her.  
  
As she looked out the window, she got that feeling. That cold feeling of a child trapped somewhere and trying to get out. Her eyes narrowed slightly when she felt this. A shiver ran down her back and she physically did so, too.  
  
"Huh?" Duo noticed Destiny out of the corner of his eye. He reached over and turned the radio down giving her turned head a raised eyebrow. "You okay, kid-o? Are ya cold?"  
  
Destiny shook her head. She looked over to Duo and gave him the best smile she could. "No, I'm fine. Thanks..."  
  
Duo nodded. He turned back to continue driving and noticed blinking lights in his rearview mirror. "Aw, man," he whined as he pulled his black car over to the side.  
  
Destiny turned around in her seat to see what was going on behind them as Duo mumbled something. She was too short to see out the back window, but when Duo rolled his window down, her attention turned there.  
  
Duo had his driver's license ready when a policeman stepped up to the side of the car. The cop pulled his sunglasses off and gave Duo a look.  
  
"Hiya, there officer," Duo said. "Problem?" He held his license out to the officer, who took it and inspected it for a moment before he looked back at Duo.  
  
"Sir, can you tell me how fast you were going back there?"  
  
Duo knew the speed limit was 55 so he took a chance to see if Lady Luck was on his side. "Um... probably... 60?"  
  
"Try 73."  
  
"Ooh," Duo winced. "Sorry 'bout that."  
  
The policeman didn't smell any alcohol on Duo's breath, but one can't ever be too sure. "Can you say your alphabet for me?"  
  
"ABCD, EFG, HIJK, LMNOP, QRS, TUV, WX, Y and Z."  
  
"Now you know my ABC's," Destiny san the continuation. "Next time won't you sing with me?"  
  
The cop glanced over to Destiny and gave her a small smile. Destiny's once big smile faded. "Mr. Policeman, are you going to arrest Uncle Duo?"  
  
The policeman chuckled. "No."  
  
Destiny nodded. "That's good, because he saved the world and colonies in a war."  
  
Duo gritted his teeth and glanced at the girl. He never said he saved the world, he said he helped save the world – right after Wufei told him to stop telling her that he was a war hero.  
  
"Plus, he's my mommy's friend. And you can't arrest Mommy's friends, she wouldn't like that."  
  
Duo now glanced back to the officer, hoping he wouldn't get upset or anything. But he was grinning at her.  
  
"Don't you worry little lady. I won't arrest him." The officer looked at Duo and handed him his driver's license back. "I'll let you off with a warning: don't break the speed limit." The officer stepped away from the car and tipped his hat to him. "Have a nice day."  
  
"Yeah, thanks," Duo said, giving him a fake grin. He took off at the closest to 50 he could get and looked over to Destiny. "You saved my skin, kid-o. I really owe you."  
  
She smiled back in a proud way. "Well, now you have a reason to take me to the movies."  
  
Duo chuckled. "You know, Quatre used to do stuff like that, too. Do a favor for me when I least expect it. Come up with a reason for me and stuff. You can really tell who raised you." She beamed at the fact that she was being compared to Quatre.  
  
***  
  
Quatre let out a deep sigh. These calculations weren't right. These salaries were too low. This capital was inaccurate. These hospital funds were way off. And it was spring and hotter than the desert! Who had been keeping track of the books during the time he was gone? Sure, while he was staying in Sanc he could do all the virtual stuff... but these ledgers were ridiculous.  
  
Abdul came over and sat a collection of papers down. "Here are the assets of 203."  
  
"Thank you, Abdul." Quatre turned his head slightly. "Have you guys found anything within After Colony 204, yet?"  
  
"Not yet, Master," came two chorused responses. Quatre sighed and rested his head on his hand.  
  
"Don't stress, Master." Rashid informed from standing next to him.  
  
"Oh, Rashid, this is all my fault. How could I have done this to my people? Quatre Raberba Winner... since when? I'm more like a l--"  
  
"Master Quatre," Rashid said in such a loud and upset voice, everyone in the room stopped to look at him. "Don't you dare finish that sentence! I don't ever want to hear you say something like that again! What have I always taught you?"  
  
Quatre sighed and looked down. "'Have a little pride in yourself'," he recited. "But Rashid -- "  
  
"No. Master Quatre, that means all the time -- even when things are worse than ever. Always trust and believe in yourself. You made a decision that gave the Winner Corporation a minor setback. It's alright."  
  
Quatre smiled. "You're right Rashid, I'm sorry. It was my decision... it wasn't like I went because I was afraid that, if I didn't, the person who asked me to go would aim a gun at my head."  
  
There wasn't time for anyone to be confused by his statement, because a quiet rapping at the door made everyone, including Quatre, look the other way.  
  
Relena gave a weak smile when she realized she had everyone in the room's attention. She came in the door and walked over to Quatre's desk. "Quatre..."  
  
Quatre immediately stood up in the presence of a lady, like he was taught to do. "Yes?" he noticed he asked this a bit too hopeful, but Relena didn't notice.  
  
"I need to rest... do you have any idea where I can stay?"  
  
"You haven't found anyone to get you a room yet?" When Relena shook her head he looked thoughtful. "Well... you can stay in my room." He realized he said that a little to enthusiastically, he didn't want anyone to get any idea. However, Relena didn't notice again.  
  
"No, Quatre. I'm sure you'll need it. Besides, it's your room."  
  
Quatre gave her a smile. He wanted to say something to that, but decided against it. In turn, he just said, "Well, if you're really tired, you can get a room down the hall from mine. It's up the stairs and down two doors to the left."  
  
Relena smiled back at her. "Thank you, Quatre."  
  
"Mm-hm," Quatre said as he watched her leave, closing the door behind her.  
  
Everyone in the room was giving Quatre smirks and raised eyebrows. Quatre noticed this. "What?"  
  
"We saw that look."  
  
"What look? I have no idea what you're talking about." He shuffled a couple papers as the three men came over to surround him.  
  
"So that's the one that stole our young master's heart and kept him on Earth, eh?' Auda said.  
  
Quatre's eyes narrowed slightly. "She didn't do anything. I went to Earth because a friend of mine was going through a hard time in her life."  
  
"Yeah," Abdul said. "And that's why you offered her you room."  
  
"I mean for the time being," Quatre retorted.  
  
"Su-u-ure," Afmahd put in.  
  
Quatre gave them all an upset look. "Will you guys stop picking on me?! She's one of my friends'...girlfriend. I'm just watching over her, okay? Our relationship... we're just friends. Understand? All right. Where are the assets for 204 at?"  
  
The three were so frightened by Quatre's voice, they immediately went back to the files to continue their search, while Rashid went back to the computer in front of him to find any information in there for A.C. 204.  
  
  
  
The End of Chapter 5  
  
This was actually a pretty good chapter! I'm surprised in myself. Oh, I don't own the song 'Born to Be Wild' by Steppenwolf. Hehe. Plus, I spell Rashid's name different than they do in Quatre's Episode Zero. I like the way I spell it, though, it puts the sound together more for me. Sorry if you don't like me spelling it that way. Anyways, as always, thanks a lot for reading! You all are nice people! 


	7. Chapter 6

A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl  
  
Chapter 6  
  
It's been six chapters; guess I should do this again. Disclaimer: I don't own any Gundam Wing characters. They are © 1995 Bandai, Sunrise, Sotsu (and lots of others, I'm sure)  
  
The bad news was that Destiny heard Quatre had a lot of work to do and that they were going to stay at his home a little bit longer. The good news was Duo said that she had Hilde's yummy stakes to look forward to.  
  
After about four days, Duo said that he could just go get Hilde and bring her there. Quatre agreed and said that that way they could be his guests. Of course, that changed Duo's mind and he said that he wanted them to be a guest at his house.  
  
Destiny learned that there was so much stuff you could do at Quatre's house. They had a large pool, an area for any sort of game, a giant trampoline, and so many fun things. But Uncle Duo was the only person who would do most of the things with her. Her mommy didn't get up much; she said she was just having a bad week. It wasn't that bad, anyways, because Uncle Duo was fun to play with.  
  
At four in the morning, Quatre was beginning to get rather drowsy. It had been almost a week and a half since they first got there. He knew Destiny wanted to go to Uncle Duo's house, but she had amazing patience for a girl her age - she got that from her mother. He knew she could wait, and that Duo could keep her busy.  
  
He had just about given up all hope for finding last year's assets. It was almost like those files never existed, but Quatre remembered filing them himself... he just couldn't remember exactly where it was he filed them.  
  
A sudden beeping noise startled him, and woke him up a little. He sleepily reached over and clicked the button to pick up the call. The face of a good friend surprised him.  
  
"Trowa! What are you doing, calling me at four in the morning?"  
  
"Oh, sorry about that Quatre. I must have forgotten about the time difference. I didn't mean to wake you up."  
  
Quatre waved it away. "Don't worry about it. I wasn't sleeping, so you didn't wake me up."  
  
Trowa frowned. "You stayed up again."  
  
"Don't worry about it. I'm not -- " he yawned and finished, " - tired."  
  
Trowa raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything about it. He knew when it came to sleep Quatre was really stubborn about it. "I heard you couldn't find misplaced files."  
  
"Yes," Quatre said with a sigh. "A.C. 204."  
  
Trowa nodded. "Didn't you send those files?"  
  
"Huh? Send them? Where?"  
  
"Remember last year you sent a lot of information to the Sanc Kingdom's computer so you could work on it there?"  
  
Quatre hit his head with his hand. "I can't believe that! I've been looking for something that's not even here. Now, all I have to do is get into Sanc's computer system and -- "  
  
A beeping noise cut him off. The screen Quatre had been talking to Trowa on got a large document with words on it. Trowa's picture was reduced to the corner.  
  
"That's done," he said.  
  
Quatre's eyes widened. "You got all that information for me? Thank you, Trowa!"  
  
Trowa shrugged. "Don't mention it. That's what friends are for."  
  
Quatre grinned. "I'm glad Duo contacted you."  
  
"How could you tell?"  
  
"I think he's the only way you could have found out. Thanks a lot Trowa, you saved me a lot of work."  
  
"I said, `don't mention it.'" Trowa smirked slightly. "Get some sleep Quatre."  
  
"Thanks Trowa, good-bye."  
  
Their link was then terminated. Quatre sighed and got a printout of all the information for last year. It never struck him that Trowa could help. That would have saved him a lot of time.  
  
Rashid came into the room empty handed. The reason he left was to get Quatre some strong coffee.  
  
"What's wrong, Rashid?" Quatre asked.  
  
"Master Quatre, I think it is time you get some sleep. When was the last time you sleep? Six days ago?"  
  
"But Rashid, I got last year's information. Now I have to organize it..."  
  
"No. I'll organize it. You're young, you need your rest."  
  
"But -- "  
  
"No `buts', go to bed."  
  
Quatre sighed heavily. He stood up and stretched his arms over his head, stifling another yawn. "Alright," he said as he put his arms back down. "I'll go. You know what to do, right?"  
  
"Yes, yes," Rashid said as he pushed him to the door.  
  
"Good night, Rashid."  
  
"Good night, Master Quatre."  
  
Quatre climbed up the stairs and went into his room. He took off his pants and put some bottom pajamas in place of them. He took his vest off and let it fall to the floor. On the way to his bed, he lazily unbuttoned his shirt and, when he got to the bed, took the shirt off and threw it somewhere - remembering to clean it up in the morning.  
  
Quatre looked over at his alarm clock that read `4:36 A.M.' He didn't feel like setting his alarm clock, or waking up in an hour, so he unplugged it. Now, he turned to his bed and pulled away the covers. Climbing into it and being engulfed by its coolness from no one sleeping in it. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.  
  
It was about eight in the morning when Destiny wandered into Quatre's room. She grinned when she saw his sleeping form sprawled on the bed. She snuck over to the side of the bed and pounced on top of him.  
  
Quatre's eyes shot open and he sat up quickly. "What the -- " He noticed Destiny, holding Mr. Cuddles to her, sitting on him and grinning, and he groaned. "Destiny. Please don't ever jump on me there. A little higher, a little lower, fine. But not there." He picked the girl up and laid her down next to him. "What time is it?"  
  
She shrugged. "I don't know how to tell time."  
  
"You don't, do you?" He sighed and rubbed his temple. "Is Uncle Duo up?"  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"Then it must be about lunch time." He looked over at her. "Why'd you let me sleep in?"  
  
She shrugged. "Quatre," she said as she looked at her bear. "Can we go to Uncle Duo's house now? I don't want to be mean, but it's been a long time!"  
  
He smiled. "I have a few more things to do, but we'll leave when your mother wants to."  
  
She nodded. "Can I go ask her now?" she made a move to get up, but Quatre caught her. "Let's let everyone eat some breakfast and get their brains motivated first, okay?"  
  
She was taken by surprise as Quatre pulled her over and began to tickle her. She laughed and kicked and tried to break free, dropping Mr. Cuddles on the floor in the process. Quatre laughed with much amusement. After a moment of her yelling `Stop, Quatre, please!' he finally stopped.  
  
She rolled off the bed and landed on her feet. As she picked up Mr. Cuddles she said, "You can't tickle me anymore, okay?"  
  
Quatre pushed his covers to the side and threw his feet over the edge. "Okay," he said as he stood to his feet. He bent over to crack anything that needed it. He knew it wasn't good for your back, but it felt good.  
  
"Wow, you can do that?" Destiny asked. "I can touch my toes, too!" She bent over and touched her feet and then stood back up grinning.  
  
"Yes, you can. So why's it such a revelation that I can do it?"  
  
"Well, your legs are longer than mine."  
  
Quatre got a funny look on his face. He got down to his knees and hugged her. She got a surprised look from the sudden move. "What's that for?" she asked.  
  
"I've waited all my life for that." Quatre pulled away from her and looked at her directly. "I'm taller than someone - finally! Thank you."  
  
She sighed at the overdramatic scene. "I'm short."  
  
"No you aren't. You're four."  
  
She nodded. "I'm short for most kids that are four."  
  
"Who told you that?"  
  
"Uncle Wufei."  
  
Quatre rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about it. Come on, let's go get some breakfast."  
  
She pointed at his chest. "Aren't you going to put a shirt on?"  
  
Quatre looked down. "I thought it was kind of chilly." He threw the top part of his pajamas on and looked at her. "How's that?"  
  
"Good," she said. "Can we get breakfast, now?"  
  
Quatre nodded. "Sure."  
  
***  
  
"So, you busy people are finally going to come visit us, eh?" Duo asked over breakfast. Today, breakfast was pancakes, bacon, sausage, milk, juice, and blueberry muffins. And best of all: it was free.  
  
"Yes," Quatre responded. "But now that we're leaving and going to be back on Earth soon, I'm going to start making more frequent trips back here."  
  
Duo nodded and continued digging into his feast before him. Relena looked up, but didn't say anything. She just continued cutting her food; amazed that Quatre was still going to be staying with them.  
  
Destiny turned to her left, where her mommy was sitting and pulled her sleeve. "Can we do something fun on Uncle Duo's colony? Can we go to the zoo, Mommy? Uncle Duo says they have a zoo. Please?"  
  
Relena smiled. "You know who you have to ask for that."  
  
Destiny looked across the table. "Can we, Quatre?"  
  
Quatre smiled, too. "We'll see." He glanced over to Duo, who smirked and continued drowning his pancakes with syrup.  
  
***  
  
The shuttle ride to L2 seemed quicker than the ride to L4 from Earth. Quatre got to sit next to Relena, because Destiny wanted to sit next to Uncle Duo. He could faintly hear Duo telling her a story about how he tripped and fell down a pile of junk once. Destiny found it quite amusing as Duo thoroughly described how greasy and hurt he was afterwards. With all of his stories, he was able to keep Destiny distracted until they got to the airport.  
  
Duo's house wasn't too far away. Duo said it was a walking distance, but all eyes were on Relena to see if she wanted to walk. She said she's love to and that it'd be good for her. So they walked off. When the house was in sight, Duo picked up the pace. He got to the door and pushed it open, stepping to the side for them to go in.  
  
Destiny went in, followed by Relena, then Quare - who mumbled to Duo, "You should lock your doors." Duo gave him a look before he went in himself, shutting the door behind him.  
  
Destiny jumped onto the couch and bounced on it until she got a stern look from Relena. Then Destiny slid off and turned her attention away from her mommy to look at Uncle Duo.  
  
"Hey, Uncle Duo, where's Aunt Hilde?"  
  
"I dunno. Probably buyin' groceries. She knew I was coming home today." He winked at Destiny as he collapsed onto his couch. "C'mon in, everyone! Make yourself at home! I'm turnin' the TV on now." And Duo grabbed the remote and turned the television on with it, like he said.  
  
Destiny decided to try to get on the couch again without getting in trouble with her mommy. She didn't. She grinned at Duo, who grinned back. Duo turned to the television and tried to find something on that she could watch.  
  
"Mind if I get something to snack on?' Quatre asked as he headed for the kitchen.  
  
Duo shrugged. "Get me somethin' too, will ya?"  
  
Relena slowly sat on the couch, on the other side of Destiny. She rested her elbow on the arm of the couch and her head on her hand.  
  
Quatre came back into the room just as the door opened. Hilde came in with a sack of groceries. The first thing she saw was Quatre. She put the sack on the ground and squealed, "Blond boy!" as she ran over and hugged him.  
  
"M-ms. Hilde?"  
  
"Hilde."  
  
"Yes, um... what's this?"  
  
"I heard you were back on L4 working your butt off. I thought you'd need a hug."  
  
Quatre hugged her back. "Thanks."  
  
Hilde patted his back and turned around. She saw Duo; they stared into each other's eyes for a minute before they both broke into big smiles. She walked over behind the couch and Duo turned around. They hugged each other.  
  
"Welcome home," Hilde said. "I missed you." Their hug turned into a far from friendly kiss. If you could call it just a kiss Relena diverted her daughter's eyes away from the scene that she felt Destiny was too young to witness.  
  
"Duo," Hilde said as she broke away. "I have to go get the groceries." Duo smirked. He watched her head towards the door, grab the sack, and close the door. She turned and looked over at Quatre, who had a surprised look on his face. She gave him a sly look. "Don't be jealous, Quatre. You want a kiss like that, too?"  
  
Quatre shook his head viciously with eyes wider than usual. Duo and Hilde laughed at his reaction. Hilde walked back towards the couch. "Hi Relena," she greeted her blonde friend. She looked over at Destiny and grinned. "Hey, you! Are you listening to your mommy?"  
  
"Yes, Aunt Hilde."  
  
"Good!" She said and walked in front of the couch to the kitchen. As she passed Duo, he leaned forward and smacked her right on the hind. That made her jump and look at him. "Duo," she hissed in a `not-in-front-of-people' tone.  
  
He grinned. "You were in front of the TV." She rolled her eyes at the bad excuse. She continued on her way to the kitchen, passing Quatre with a wink.  
  
Relena stood up and picked Destiny up with her She decided it was time for some `girl talk'. She could have Destiny eat something while she and Hilde talked. She excused herself and took Destiny into the kitchen. Quatre watched them go and then he headed to the couch to sit next to Duo. He held up the small bag of potato chips he had been holding so Duo could get some.  
  
Duo shoved a handful into his mouth and looked over at Quatre. Quatre could tell he had something on his mind, so as soon as Duo swallowed Quatre decided to ask.  
  
"So what do you want me in space for Duo?"  
  
"I still don't know what'cha mean. We wanted to see ya."  
  
The subject shifted a bit. Quatre glanced over towards the kitchen and back to Duo. "You really love her, don't you Duo?"  
  
Duo grinned. "Yeah, I do. I'm gonna marry her, aren't I?"  
  
It took a moment, but Quatre understood what he meant. "You... you... Congratulations!"  
  
"Yeah, well," Duo looked slightly guilty. "I haven't asked her yet. I haven't even bought her a ring. Actually, I was wonderin' if you could help."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"When I do have to propose, will you help me?"  
  
"Help you?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Quatre crossed his arms. "What do you want me to do, Duo? Whisper what to say?" A smile began to appear on Duo's face and Quatre shook his head. "You just have to tell her how much you care and then say, `Ms. Hilde Schbeiker, will you marry me?' It's not that difficult, is it?"  
  
"Well... I dunno if I can do it. Maybe if you were in the same room... that's it! I can propose at a restaurant and you can be at a nearby table."  
  
"Wouldn't she be bound to notice me just sitting there staring at you two?"  
  
"No, it'll be like one of those secret agent movie things. You'll be hiding behind a menu spying on us."  
  
Quatre sighed. "How etiquette."  
  
Duo gave him puppy dog eyes. "Pl-e-e-a-a-se-e? I do stuff for you all the time!"  
  
"Like...?"  
  
"Like... I'm providing you with a place to stay now, aren't I?"  
  
Quatre sighed. "I'll see what I can do. I can't promise anything. And this is just a favor, the favors you've done for me are irrelevant."  
  
"Thanks, Quatre. I really owe ya."  
  
"Sure. So when are we going to do this?"  
  
Duo shrugged. "I... I'll let you know."  
  
Meanwhile, Relena and Hilde were having a discussion in the kitchen. Destiny was happily eating a couple cookies, oblivious to what they were talking about. Relena and Hilde were standing by a counter, having a pretty quiet conversation as Hilde put everything in the grocery bag away.  
  
"So, you two have a strong bond, huh?" Relena asked her petite friend.  
  
"Yes," Hilde said. She glanced over at Destiny and back to Relena and said in a lower voice. "Such a strong bond that I have to take you-know-what pills."  
  
Relena's eyes narrowed slightly. "Okay, Hilde, what's going on? You two aren't that protective. Are you being careful just to mock my mistake?"  
  
"No, Relena. It's nothing like that at all. I just... Remember that time we went to Earth and Duo said we used protection?" She didn't wait for Relena to nod; she knew Relena remembered that. "He didn't mean anything by it. He was directing that towards me. You see, the night before Quatre called us we..." she trailed off; knowing Relena would understand the blank. "Well, this is the truth: he was mad at me. I had us use protection. That was just once. He was upset at me. It wasn't directed at you."  
  
Relena got a small, understanding smile on her face. She nodded. "I had a feeling Duo wasn't that careful."  
  
Hilde nudged her. "While we're on the subject, have you heard from you-know-who, living you-know-where, about you-know-what?"  
  
In a soft tone, Relena replied, "You mean Heero, who's in space, and about Destiny?" Hilde nodded and Relena sighed. "I haven't talked to him in a long time, no."  
  
"When was the last time?"  
  
"Hm. Four years ago!" Hilde frowned and patted her back somewhat encouraging.  
  
"It's okay, Relena. He'll come around... he always does."  
  
Relena shook her head. She turned around to see her daughter. Destiny was sitting her chair, looking back with her Prussian blue eyes. No more cookies and milk. The only evidence were the crumbs on a napkin and her milk moustache. She smiled. "I'm done, Mommy."  
  
Relena smiled. "Okay. We can go back out to the living room." She looked over at Hilde. "Coming?"  
  
Hilde folded the now empty paper bag with a smile. "I'll be right out... and I can take care of her napkin and cup."  
  
"Are you sure? I can -- "  
  
"No, it's all right. I've got it."  
  
Relena nodded. She took Destiny's hand and guided her out to the living room She noticed Quatre and Duo talking quietly on the couch.  
  
"I'll let you know somehow when I've got it and I'm ready," Duo said in a low voice.  
  
Quatre caught Relena out of the corner of his eye. Duo turned to see what he was looking at and his eyes widened. He wondered how long she had been standing there.  
  
Relena crossed her arms. "What are you two talking about?" She asked suspiciously.  
  
"Um..." Duo looked to Quatre for help.  
  
Quatre cleared his throat and looked back to Relena. "Well, Relena. It is someone's birthday In April and someone else's birthday in May."  
  
"Yeah," Duo put in. "And I need to buy presents for the people who are anonymous."  
  
Relena smiled, understand what two people they meant. "We'll just go back in the kitchen," and she turned to come face-to-face with Hilde. Relena smiled and pushed her back in. Destiny followed confusedly behind.  
  
Duo looked at Quatre and smiled. "Thanks for lying for me, Quatre."  
  
"Don't put it that way," Quatre winced.  
  
"Girls seem to have the idea that they have to tell their friends everything they find out."  
  
Quatre shrugged. "Sure." He smiled. "You helped me with my excuse, now you have a reason to ask me to help you propose to Hilde."  
  
Duo didn't get what Quatre just said. But he understood the point. He pointed at him. "She does act like you."  
  
"She who?"  
  
"Destiny."  
  
Quatre grinned at the comment; he was being related to an innocent little kid.  
  
***  
  
After that, what happened that evening was rather interesting. There were only three rooms that could be slept in: Hilde and Duo's room, the spare room, and the living room.  
  
Duo said that he and Hilde could keep their room, Relena and Destiny could stay in the spare room, and Quatre could get comfortable on the couch. Hilde said that Relena and Destiny should have their room, since the bed is bigger, and Quatre could get the spare room and she and Duo could sleep on the couch.  
  
Well, Relena didn't want to take Hilde and Duo's bedroom, and Quatre refused to sleep in a bed when he knew Hilde wouldn't have one. And Duo didn't want to sleep without Hilde in the same room as him.  
  
Hilde and Quatre had a small battle about who would get the bed in Duo and Hilde's room. Quatre wanted her and Duo to stay in their own room. So somehow in the entire configuration it ended up that way. Relena and Destiny got the spare room, Hilde got the bed in her room, Quatre got the chair in the living room and Duo go the couch. Duo was quite confused how he got that, too. Although deep down he knew that he wouldn't be able to be good if he and Hilde were alone in a room.  
  
"Hey Duo," Quatre's voice broke through the darkness. "How..."  
  
"I'm telling ya Q," Duo said, breaking Quatre out of what he was going to ask. "You never can tell with girls. All I can say is `expect the unexpected'."  
  
Quatre nodded. He squirmed into the chair to get comfortable into sleeping sitting up. "Thanks for the great love advice."  
  
"Don't worry," Duo mumbled. "You have any questions, just ask me - Casanova." That was the last thing he said before drifting off to dream land. Quatre mumbled something inaudible before he, too, fell asleep.  
  
***  
  
Quatre woke up to a pounding noise. He looked over to the couch to see Duo wasn't there. He made a mental note to stop sleeping in... and making sure people didn't let him sleep in.  
  
He got off the chair and moaned. He had a kink in his neck and it hurt a lot. He heard that pounding noise again and looked down the hall to Duo standing outside his and Hilde's room.  
  
"C'mon Hilde, open the door!"  
  
"I'm dressing, Duo!"  
  
Duo grinned evilly. "Nothing I haven't seen before... c'mon."  
  
"I have a feeling if I let you in now, we won't come out for a few hours."  
  
Quatre smirked slightly. Duo sighed and started banging on the door again. "C'mon baby! Do you know what it's like to sleep on the couch?"  
  
"No, but I've given you enough experiences for you to know."  
  
Duo leaned against the wall and looked to his left. His eyes widened slightly when he noticed Quatre looking at him. "You... didn't... hear any of that, did you?"  
  
Quatre smiled at Duo before he walked down the hall and to the bathroom door, which was shut. He sighed and looked over at Duo. "Who's in the bathroom?"  
  
Duo shrugged. "It's been shut since I woke up. I don't think anyone's in it, I think someone accidentally shut the door."  
  
"Oh, okay." Quatre tapped on the door lightly. When he didn't hear an answer he turned the doorknob and pushed it open.  
  
"Hey! Quatre, I'm taking a bath!"  
  
Quatre stopped. "Sorry, Destiny."  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"I was just going to go to the bathroom and get dressed. Sorry." He began to close the door again.  
  
"Go ahead," she told him.  
  
Quatre laughed weakly. "You and your mother using the bathroom at the same time is quite different than us."  
  
"Because you're a boy?"  
  
Quatre nodded. "Yeah."  
  
"Oh, okay, I won't look." She covered her eyes to prove it.  
  
Quatre smiled. "No, I'll just wait out here, okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
Quatre nodded and closed the door. He turned to Duo, who shrugged. Duo turned back to the door he was standing at. He was about to knock on it again, when Hilde came out. Simultaneously, Relena came out of the spare room.  
  
"It's about time," Duo said. Hilde sighed and walked out. She gestured for Duo to go ahead and enter the room, but he shook his head. "I'm not fully up yet," he explained. "Sleep on the couch and you'll see what I mean." Quatre nodded in agreement and rubbed his sore neck, which made the two girls laugh. Duo grinned, walked over to Relena, and rested his head on her shoulder. "Next time, Hilde and Destiny can get the spare room, Quatre can get the couch and Relena can sleep in my room with me."  
  
Relena smirked. "I understand what you're implying Duo," she said slyly. "But I don't think you have anything to offer me."  
  
"Ooh," Quatre said. He tried not to laugh. Hilde, however, burst out laughing. Duo picked his head off of Relena's shoulder and gave her a look.  
  
"Oh, shame on you," he said. "I'll bet I've got things more interesting to look at than Mr. Perfect Soldier."  
  
Relena gave him a look back. "I don't know... I haven't seen him in a long time, and I can bet -- "  
  
Duo reached down to his jeans. "You want to do a comparison? Huh?" He grinned. He wasn't going to let this joke end.  
  
Relena waved her hand at him. "No, that's quite alright."  
  
"Mommy!"  
  
Relena turned her head to the bathroom door. "I'm called," she said as she headed to the door and went in.  
  
Hilde too wasn't going to allow this gag to stop. She nudged Duo. "Well, come on. I'll do a comparison."  
  
"Between me and Heero?"  
  
"No, you and Quatre."  
  
Quatre's eyes widened, as they both gave him evil looks. "Okay, guys," he said nervously. "That joke is over. I'm... uh... when's breakfast? I think I'll go fix it." He walked pass them quickly, just as nervous.  
  
Duo and Hilde started to laugh. "We really have to stop picking on him," Hilde said. "We do it every time we see him."  
  
"Yeah," Duo agreed. "But it's fun."  
  
"Yeah, but it's getting mean."  
  
"Okay, okay. I won't do it as often anymore."  
  
Hilde gave him a gentle tug on his braid. "Good."  
  
"You did a good job making a bath by yourself," Relena commented as she towel dried her daughter's hair.  
  
"Thank you, Mommy." Destiny replied. Relena handed her a pink shirt to put on. As she put it on she asked, slightly muffled, "Can you do my hair that way again, Mommy?"  
  
"What way, honey?"  
  
"The way you used to wear it. With the two sides tied in the back."  
  
"Oh," Relena said. She smiled at her daughter. "Well, go get your hairbrush out of your bag and bring it to me. I'll fix it that way, okay?"  
  
Destiny nodded. She ran into her room and over to her bag. She unzipped a side and got out her hairbrush and two pink ribbons. Then she skipped back into the bathroom. "Here you go, Mommy! Can you put my hair like that, please?"  
  
"Yes," Relena said, glancing around for where she could put Destiny. When she wasn't sure of where she could stand her up at, Relena sighed. "Let's go out to the living room, okay?"  
  
"Okay," Destiny said, taking the accessories with her. Relena turned the lights off and followed. Destiny was standing in front of the television. Duo, who was sitting on the couch behind her, smirked.  
  
"Hey, Destiny. You make a better door than a window."  
  
Destiny turned around and gave him a confused look. "Huh?"  
  
Duo pointed to the television. "I can't see."  
  
"Oh, sorry," Destiny said and sat down.  
  
"Oh, Duo. Leave her alone," Hilde called from the kitchen.  
  
Relena walked over and sat on the floor behind her. She took the hair accessories and began to do Destiny's hair the way she used to have hers when she was younger.  
  
"You don't have to help, Quatre," Hilde said as she stacked some toast on a plate.  
  
"No, it's alright," Quatre said with a smile. He pulled down a couple glasses from a cabinet.  
  
Hilde glanced over to the clock on the microwave and back to Quatre. "You can take one glass out of that group. Duo's only gonna have a half hour to eat his breakfast."  
  
Quatre gave her a funny look. "Duo may need his vitamins. Milk makes your teeth and bones strong."  
  
"Milk makes my body go-o-o-o-d!" Duo's voice could be heard through the walls.  
  
Hilde tried not to laugh at his comment as Quatre shook his head. He turned to carry the cups out to the table. Hilde glanced over at him and looked down to the ground. She couldn't stand it anymore.  
  
"Quatre."  
  
Quatre stopped what he was doing and turned around, noting the seriousness in the usually cheery, petite girl's voice. "Yes?"  
  
"What do you think of Heero?"  
  
"Heero? He's a rather nice guy. He tries to do things with the best intentions, which I -- "  
  
"That's not what I mean. What do you think of what he's doing?"  
  
"Uh... Relena and Destiny? I don't know. I guess it's for the girls' best interest. I mean... Imagine Duo is cold, ready to kill, and fighting with himself inside. What would you do? What do you think Duo would do?"  
  
Hilde got the point he was trying to make. She guessed the best way to prove her understanding was to answer. "I guess he'd try to get control of himself for everyone's safety... But four years?"  
  
Quatre leaned against a counter with a lament look in his eyes. "I grew up in wealthy surroundings. I used to look down on myself for what I am and wasn't around other people a lot - especially my father because he was so busy. I had bodyguards follow me everywhere. But I never knew how fortunate I was.  
  
"My friends have told me stories, and I've felt feelings that one would think they could only feel in an asylum. Heero acts as if his humanity was buried when he was a child. It will take him a while to feel those again. Although, I never feel him so nice and calm except when he's around Relena. She somehow sets him free. He doesn't show it... but that's just the soldier instincts in him. I truly believe he can do this, if not for himself, then for his two girls."  
  
Hilde sighed. "I guess you're right. I can't fight with that... especially when I have no logic of my own."  
  
Quatre opened his mouth to protest when the phone rang. Hilde walked over and picked it up.  
  
"Hello? Yes. Okay, I'll tell him. Buh-bye." Hilde hung the phone up and turned toward the living room. "Duo! That was your boss! He said they have a car that needs special parts and If you can get thee in fifteen minutes he's gonna give you a raise."  
  
Duo ran in. He took a piece f toast off the plate and gave her a peck on the cheek. "See ya." He put the toast in his mouth and made a beeline for the front door. Sparing everyone a wave before he left.  
  
"Don't slam the -" Hilde winced when he pulled the door real hard and fast, creating a loud noise.  
  
Destiny jumped up and ran into the dining room, her two braids tied together flapping behind her. "I'm hungry!" she proclaimed as she climbed up a chair. Relena came in and smiled at Hilde. "He sure wants that raise, huh?"  
  
Hilde grinned almost evilly. No - it was evil all right. "What raise? There's no raise. I just told him he'd get one so he's get moving. That lazy braided bum, gosh I love him."  
  
Quatre and Relena exchanged confused glances.  
  
***  
  
Hilde had relayed the schedule to them. Duo went to work part time at an auto repair shop until noon. Reason being, he knew the owner of the shop. Hilde would work with the parts they had for the sweepers ground. At noon, they ate lunch together and then her and Duo would continue in their scraps until they got no more calls or felt like quitting.  
  
Hilde had apologized that she couldn't be able to be with them. But Quatre had waved it off and said Destiny had wanted to go to the zoo, anyways. So, this took the three to the zoo, which wasn't very far from Duo and Hilde's house.  
  
When they got in, Destiny wanted to see a bear that may look like Mr. Cuddles. On the way to their first stop, they passed by birds, owls, panthers, and a lion. Quatre stopped in front of the lion's cage. It was just lying there... asleep. The two girls noticed Quatre and stopped also.  
  
"What's wrong, Quatre?" Relena asked.  
  
Quatre shook his head. "I was just thinking of the first time I took Destiny to the circus."  
  
"I remember," Destiny said cheerfully. "Aunt Catherine saved me!"  
  
Quatre grinned down at her.  
  
**Flashback**  
  
"What's that, Quatre?" Two-year-old Destiny pointed to a cage of birds to the right of the elephants.  
  
"Doves."  
  
"Ooh."  
  
Quatre grinned. "And after the show, I'm going to take you back to see Uncle Trowa and Aunt Catherine."  
  
"Uncle Twowa," she said rocking back and forth. She'd met him before.  
  
After the show, Quatre kept his promise. He took Destiny to the back. She was looking at all the animals in their cages when Quatre led her to a girl with curly brown hair.  
  
Catherine smiled at Destiny. She tuned her head to look behind her into the tent. "He's back there somewhere."  
  
Quatre nodded and went in. Destiny was about to follow him when she realized who Catherine was. She tugged on the end of her dress and Catherine looked down to her.  
  
"You almost hurt Uncle Twowa."  
  
Catherine smiled. "I tried not to... he's my brother."  
  
"Oh," Destiny said, surprised.  
  
"Come on," Catherine started to head into the tent. Destiny began to follow her, but she was distracted again. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a lion in its cage. It had let out a big yawn.  
  
Destiny grinned. "Lion kitty." She headed over to the cage.  
  
It didn't take long for Catherine to realize Destiny wasn't behind her She headed back outside and looked around. She saw Destiny over by the lion's cage. She had her hand reached out in-between two bars to try to pet the lion inside. It had been trying to sleep and was now quite grumpy; it turned its head to the girl.  
  
""O my God," Catherine yelped. She ran over and grabbed Destiny, pulling her away from the lion before he could do anything.  
  
The commotion brought Quatre out, Trowa not far behind him. Catherine told the two what had happened.  
  
"Wow, looks like Aunt Catherine saved you," Quatre told the little girl who smiled in return.  
  
**End Flashback**  
  
Quatre turned away from the lion. "Yeah, she saved you."  
  
***  
  
"Do you have any uncles, Uncle Duo?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Do you have any aunts?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"I do. I have a lot. I have an uncle and aunt that lives on Mars!"  
  
Duo grinned. "You do?" He tried to sound surprised.  
  
"Uh-huh. Uncle Milliards is Mommy's brother."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Uh-huh. But I never met him."  
  
Duo nodded. He looked back down at the item in front of him. He got a light in his eye and looked up at Destiny. "Does your person wear a hat?"  
  
"Nope!"  
  
"Aw man," Duo whined and knocked down just two of his people. Destiny giggled.  
  
The phone rang and Hilde bolted for it. "Let this be it!" she yelled as she picked it up. She had entered to win a cruise ride on the Pacific Ocean a couple days ago, which is why she always answered the phone when it rang. "Hello? Yes... yes she is..." She pulled the phone down and looked out to the living room where Relena was sitting on the chair, reading a book and Quatre was laying on the couch look like he was in deep thought.  
  
"Relena." Relena looked up. Hilde shook the phone and Relena got the message. She got up, sat the book down, and went over to take the phone. "Hello? Yes, this is she. What? No... No... Oh my God. Yes, I'll be there as soon as I can." Relena hung the phone up and turned around to see everyone looking at her. "I have to go back to Earth now. Pagan is dying."  
  
The End of Chapter 6  
  
Okay, first of all, I have gotten so many reviews. Thank you! I'm glad you all like this so far! Second, chapter 8 (two chapters from now, the chapter after the next, whichever way you want to think of it) is going to have Heero in it, for all of you sitting there wondering. Third, the next chapter is going to take some time to get out, I have to revise it slightly. Lastly, as always, thanks for reading! 


	8. Chapter 7

A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl  
  
Chapter 7  
  
  
  
  
  
Relena didn't even wait for anyone to open the door for her. As soon as the limo stopped, she jumped out. Quatre quickly grabbed Destiny, because she wouldn't be able to move that fast, and followed Relena into the hospital.  
  
Once inside, she asked the receptionist where Pagan's room was and they all got on the elevator to get to the second floor. The got off and went down three doors to the left. Relena went in to see Pagan lying on a bed. He didn't look well at all.  
  
"Pagan!" Relena came up next to him and he opened his eyes.  
  
"Miss Relena," he said with surprise, "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I came as soon as I heard. You have to get better."  
  
Pagan chuckled lightly, followed by a few coughs. He cleared his throat and turned to her. "Miss, I have watched over you since you were young. I have watched you grow from a child to a strong woman. You've become so smart and made me very proud. Just as I know you would make your parents proud. You were just like a granddaughter to me," he glanced over to Destiny. "And so were you, Miss Destiny."  
  
"Mr. Pagan, what's wrong?" Destiny asked. She rested her chin on the edge of the bed and gave him a sad look.  
  
Pagan inhaled and exhaled very deeply for a while before offering her a smile. "I told you not to call me that."  
  
"You call me 'Miss'."  
  
"Heh heh. To answer your question – I'm just getting old... it's time for me to go."  
  
"Pagan!" Relena cried. "Don't talk like that."  
  
"I'm sure I'll be leaving you in good hands." He looked over at Quatre. "You're such a kind boy, I know you will watch the girls." Quatre solemnly nodded as came closer to the bed and gave him a sad look that could almost match Destiny's. Relena was holding back tears with little avail. Then, Pagan's head laid back. His eyes closed and a last breath escaped him.  
  
"Pagan, no!" Relena yelled. But, the thin line going across the heart monitor proved that her yells didn't help. She couldn't hold back or minimize her tears anymore and began to cry. Quatre wrapped his arms around her in a hug. She didn't mind the comfort and allowed the embrace.  
  
"Did Mr. Pagan go to sleep?" Destiny asked. This question only made Relena cry harder, burying her face into Quatre's shoulder as her own shoulders shook. Quatre shook his head in reply to Destiny's question.  
  
"I'll explain later," Quatre told Destiny, "but... for now I'll say, he won't ever wake up."  
  
Destiny frowned deeply as if she understood what he meant. She walked over and hugged Relena from the side. Quatre smiled and pulled her in for a group hug.  
  
***  
  
Flashes of cameras filled the air, but Relena seemed to be in her own world. She was just staring at Pagan's grave. It wasn't that she had forgotten how terrible death was. She remembered how bad it was when he father died. And now it was terrible, yet again, as the last person she had known since childhood died. She shook her head in sorrow as she remembered when she was younger and even recent times with the now dearly departed.  
  
Quatre, however, was looking around slanting his eyes at the unwanted and unneeded press. It was getting so, if you were famous, you couldn't even bury someone without the press all over you like some terrible blood hounds looking for an unknown story that you can't give because it's not there.  
  
Relena exhaled. Out of nowhere she said, "He did take very good care of me – even when I wasn't the kindest of people. He was like a grandfather."  
  
Quatre looked over at the grave and thought for only a moment before he replied, "He was a good man." 'Pass tense,' he added in his mind. 'Too bad people only say good things about other people when they've passed away.'  
  
Relena nodded and looked down to the ground. They had left Destiny at home because Relena didn't want her to witness this. Quatre reached his arm out and wrapped it around her torso, pulling her to him.  
  
'Quatre,' Quatre mentally scolded himself. 'Knock it off. You know you can't take Heero's place.' He looked over at her. 'Heero, hurry up and get back... no one can cheer Relena up by just showing up like you can.'  
  
***  
  
Quatre had realized how much stress Relena had been going through lately. He spent a couple days making calls and acting weird. Almost a week later he approached her.  
  
Relena were playing house with some dolls and a dollhouse. Quatre had come in, flashed a smile at them, and asked if he could talk to Relena. She followed him out to the hall where he turned to her. He waited for one maid to walk pass and go into another room before finally saying anything.  
  
"Relena, I think you need a break from everything. Are you doing anything this Friday?"  
  
"I don't think so..."  
  
"Well, if not, would you like to spend it with me... out on the town?"  
  
Relena smirked. "Quatre, are you asking me out?"  
  
"No," he said defensively, "I'm asking you to relieve some stress. Please? I think an evening away from it all would do you some good."  
  
"I..."  
  
"Go out with Quatre, Mommy!" Came Destiny's cry from the room. Quatre and Relena smiled at each other.  
  
"Yes, I'll go. But, how will we make sure no one will find out?"  
  
Quatre knew whom she meant: any news reporters or press related people. He nodded. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."  
  
***  
  
"New assignment! Here, here, here, here!"  
  
Wufei stopped in his tracks and walked backwards to the desk he had just passed. He snatched the paper out of the blonde's hand and gave her a look. "Ms. Catalonia, is there another way you would have gotten my attention?"  
  
Dorothy smirked. "Yes, but I didn't want to yell your name so loud they could hear me on the top floor."  
  
Wufei looked down at the paper in his hands and skimmed over it. He felt a hand on his shoulder and a friendly 'Good luck.' He looked up to see Sally's retreating back. "Hey," he called. She stopped and turned around. "What is this?" He shook the mentioned paper.  
  
"Did you read it?" she asked with amusement.  
  
"Yes, I red it. Who assigned me this?"  
  
Dorothy cleared her throat. "Take a guess."  
  
"That Une woman," Wufei growled. "She just can't leave me alone. And she always waits for me to get back before giving me a new assignment, like it wouldn't save time for me to get a new assignment while I was already out. All the women here are difficult. And, I am not babysitting."  
  
Now that today's rant was over, Sally broke in. "You're right, you're not babysitting. You're protecting an important person."  
  
"Important my a – "  
  
Sally sighed. "Wufei, it's not that difficult. I really need to get you out more... get you on a date or something. You have so much tension."  
  
He was disgusted by the amount of sarcasm in her voice. But he did have one hope. "Tell me you're my partner in this."  
  
She shook her head. "I have a different mission. Well, like I said, good luck!" She turned and walked away.  
  
Wufei turned to Dorothy. "Who is my partner?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
The door flew open and Wufei turned his attention to it. Black boots, blue jeans, a Preventer jacket over a navy blue t-shirt. He didn't even have to look at the person's face, he only knew one person with such tasteless fashion.  
  
"Hey, Wufei! Ya ready for the mission?"  
  
Wufei's eyes widened. He turned back to Dorothy. "Please don't tell me it's with him!"  
  
"It's with him," Dorothy replied as Duo walked over.  
  
"This is not fair! You are just getting me back for that time at the last Preventer meeting!"  
  
Dorothy smirked evilly. "Am not. I didn't even do it, it's just what the computer chose."  
  
"Yeah, I bet," Wufei glanced over at Duo and back to Dorothy.  
  
"Yeah," Duo said. "We're really sorry you can't have your man – "  
  
Dorothy stood up. "He's not my man! We don't like each other at all! Stop saying that!"  
  
Duo put his hands up in defense. "Sorry, sheesh."  
  
"I don't believe this," mumbled Wufei who wasn't paying attention to their conversation and was still on the fact that Duo was his partner for the current situation. "I want a new partner, now."  
  
"Sorry, can't. It's too late," Dorothy sat back down. "That's the way the fortune cookie crumbles."  
  
Before Wufei could reply, Duo tried to push him out before anyone else started staring at them. "Let's go Wufei."  
  
"Stupid secretary," Wufei growled as he left, Duo following behind him.  
  
"I'm a receptionist," Dorothy called after him. She turned back to her computer. "And he is not my man," she muttered under her breath.  
  
There was an awkward silence between Duo and Wufei as Wufei drove down the road they were on quite fast. Duo glanced over at him and saw his sour expression. "Me working with you isn't that bad, is it?" he asked.  
  
Wufei shook his head. "It's not that. I was just hoping I'd get a woman so she could watch the child. I didn't join this place to be a babysitter."  
  
"Not big on kids, are ya Wufei?"  
  
"I lost my patience a long time ago. I'm not planning on a child – or getting married – at all." Duo nodded and looked down. Now it was Wufei's turn to look at him. "What about you? Why aren't you staying with your woman?"  
  
"Are you kidding?" Duo looked over at him with wide eyes. "I'm going to try to propose to her. I can't see her everyday knowing this."  
  
"Did you join this mission to get money to buy a ring?"  
  
Duo smirked. He revealed a bag he had been holding in his hand and held it out to Wufei. "Peanut?"  
  
"No."  
  
Duo shrugged. "Suit yourself."  
  
Wufei raised an eyebrow at the roads. "So, what's your status on the albatross?"  
  
"Lost," Duo said, before he tossed some peanuts into his mouth. Wufei nodded in understanding. When the albatross didn't want to be found, it would hide well. Very well.  
  
***  
  
"Are you going to look really pretty, Mommy?' Destiny asked from her spot atop Relena's bed. Relena held her hair up so Destiny could zip her dress up for her.  
  
"No dear, I can't." She felt the zipper go to the top and let her hair fall. "I have to keep a low profile. I don't want anyone to know who I am."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because... Mommy doesn't like bad rumors spread all over about her."  
  
"What's a bad rumor?"  
  
"It's something said about someone that isn't true."  
  
"Oh. You know what Mommy?"  
  
Relena looked at her daughter's reflection in the mirror. "What, dear?"  
  
"I think you look pretty no matter what."  
  
Relena smiled. She turned around and hugged her. "Oh, thank you, honey. And you are such a pretty little girl, too." Relena gave her a kiss on the tip of her nose.  
  
"Mommy, who's gonna watch me?"  
  
"Oh, I don't know. Quatre said he had that covered... and had that funny look on his face."  
  
Destiny giggled. "Am I gonna wear a nice outfit for the people that are watching me?"  
  
"Isn't what you have on okay? You're not going to leave the house or anything."  
  
"Okay. When will you be home?"  
  
Relena couldn't believe all these questions she was getting. "Oh, you'll be asleep before I get home, don't worry."  
  
Destiny got a rather serious look on her face. "Are you guys going to kiss each other?"  
  
"No!"  
  
Destiny nodded. "Good, because Daddy wouldn't like that." Her hands flew to her mouth immediately.  
  
Relena got a shocked look on her face. "What did you say?"  
  
Destiny glanced around before she jumped off her mommy's bed and said, "I have to go." Then she ran out of the room fast.  
  
Relena went to the doorway and looked both ways to which she didn't see Destiny anywhere. "Destiny Peacecraft Darlian, come here!" Her yell did not do any good, for Destiny didn't come back.  
  
Destiny did a good job of hiding from Relena for the rest of the day. So, a couple hours later, when Relena eventually did find her she didn't quite remember what happened. Either that or, for some reason she didn't want to bring it up. So Destiny and Relena just sat and watched television for a while. Which consisted of flipping between the news and some animated cartoon. Once a maid came in, but quickly realizing the two together, she left.  
  
"I'm ready," Quatre's voice came down the steps. He walked down the steps and over to them. Relena and Destiny turned around to look at him. Destiny grinned.  
  
"Wow Quatre, you look pretty like Mommy does."  
  
Quatre smiled at her. He was dressed in white shoes, white pants, a white shirt with a vest over it, a white jacket over that, and a white bow tie around his neck (I'm sure you've all seen that picture).  
  
Relena looked down at Destiny and gave her a small smile from what she said. She looked back to Quatre and gave him a surprised look. "I'm not half as dressed up as you," she said. She got up and walked over to him. "You said not to be so dressy."  
  
"I said for you not to be so dressy. No one will notice me... I don't think. Just about everything you wear complements your beauty."  
  
Relena straightened his bow tie slightly. "Thanks for the compliment Quatre."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Okay, you watch the infant and I'll watch the house."  
  
"Oh, jeez, Wufei. She's not that difficult. In fact, she'll be glad to see you."  
  
"Sure." Wufei glared at Duo as they stepped up to the house. He turned to the door and bounded on it.  
  
Duo rolled his eyes. "They made doorbells for a reason, ya know."  
  
Nevertheless, a butler opened the door. It wasn't Pagan, but another man. This one was slightly younger than Pagan was.  
  
"Yes?" The butler asked. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed the Preventer jackets.  
  
"We're here to watch the vice foreign minister's child." Wufei stated. Duo added an innocent grin to the end.  
  
The butler opened the door more and stepped to the side to allow them to enter.  
  
"Thanks," Duo said cheerily as he followed Wufei inside. The-man-who-was- not-Pagan closed the door behind them.  
  
Destiny immediately noticed the two men enter the living room. She grinned and jumped off the couch and ran over to them.  
  
"Uncle Duo! Uncle Wufei!" She yelled as she ran over and hugged Duo.  
  
Duo grinned and picked her up. "Hey, I haven't seen you in so long! What has it been... two weeks?"  
  
Quatre walked over with his own big grin. "Hey guys, thanks for coming."  
  
"You owe me big for this," Wufei mumbled to the blond boy, who nodded in return.  
  
Relena came over with a smile. "Nice to meet you all again. How have you been?"  
  
Duo shook his head. He reached out and hugged Relena to him. "I'm alright."  
  
"Could be better," Wufei replied grimly.  
  
Destiny reached out to Wufei. "I haven't seen you in a long, long time, Uncle Wufei."  
  
Wufei raised an eyebrow and reluctantly took her into his arms. "Didn't you just have a birthday?"  
  
"Nope, that was a long time ago. It's almost my birthday now."  
  
"Oh... well your birthday was the last time I saw you." Destiny nodded in agreement. It was true he hadn't seen her in almost a year. Unlike most people, though, Wufei wouldn't comment on how much she'd grown or how different she looked or how cute she was. In fact, she was quick to se her down on the ground.  
  
"Um... you met Arthur," Quatre said, indicating the mad who opened the door. "He will be leaving shortly. We gave everyone else a day off. Just fix her a small cup of milk. Make sure she's in bed by eight thirty, no later than nine." Quatre looked over at Relena. "What would you like to put in?"  
  
Relena shrugged. "I think that's it. Just be sure she brushes her teeth before she goes to sleep, and she might want a bedtime story. And if we're not back by midnight, send a search party."  
  
Wufei nodded and Duo grinned at Relena's last statement. Duo looked down at his watch, checking to see how many hours they had before they had to get Destiny to sleep. Four-and-a-half, not long.  
  
"All right, well you two have fun." Duo told them cheerfully as Quatre helped Relena get her coat on.  
  
Quatre smiled back. "Same for you two." Arthur opened the door for him and nodded for the two to leave before him.  
  
"Good-bye, honey," Relena called to Destiny.  
  
"'Bye, Mommy!" Destiny yelled back waving.  
  
Quatre waved to the other two, before he left the house. Arthur, with his coat in hand and hat on his head, nodded to the two men before leaving.  
  
As soon as the door shut, Wufei and Duo looked at the little girl in front of them. She smiled and cocked her head to the side. Duo looked over at Wufei.  
  
"We have to make her food? We can't order pizza?"  
  
"No," Wufei replied as he turned his back on him and walked to the kitchen.  
  
Duo looked back to Destiny. "You watch television, okay Destiny?" She nodded and he followed Wufei into the kitchen.  
  
Wufei was rummaging through the cupboards. "Do you know how to cook anything?" He asked, slightly sarcastically as Duo entered the kitchen.  
  
"Uh... French toast."  
  
Wufei looked surprised. "You know how to make something?"  
  
"Well, once Hilde said I couldn't remember anything, so I memorized a French toast recipe."  
  
"You two argue over odd things," Wufei mumbled as he pulled up a frying pan. "Okay, what do we need?"  
  
"Uh... two eggs. Now, that means you put the whole egg in and beat it, right?"  
  
Wufei blinked. There was no way he was going to cook with someone who did not even know the basics of cooking. He put the pan back where he got it. "Let's use something canned."  
  
"'K," Duo replied as he looked through the cupboards along with Wufei.  
  
Carrots, corn, peas, asparagus, and spinach – nothing Duo came across looked rather appetizing to him. Next to him, Wufei pulled something out. It was a can on chicken noodle soup.  
  
"How about soup?" he asked. "All you do is microwave it."  
  
Duo shrugged. "Okay." He grinned at Wufei, who was looking for a can opener. "Catherine would sure be proud of you making soup, Wufei."  
  
"Catherine?" Wufei said absently as he finally found what he was looking for.  
  
"Yeah, ya know, Trowa's sis."  
  
"Oh," Wufei said as he took the lid off and sat it aside. "Get me a bowl to put this in."  
  
Duo nodded. "Right."  
  
A little while later, the two watched the little girl slurp some noodles off her spoon. She pushed the bowl away. "I'm full."  
  
"Now, Duo," Wufei said. "You go watch some movies with her for awhile."  
  
"Um... okay," Duo said, scratching his head. "For how long?"  
  
"Mr. Cuddles wants to watch a movie with me!" Destiny proclaimed and ran to get her teddy bear.  
  
"Until her bedtime," Wufei told him.  
  
Duo smirked after the girl. " I can't wait 'til Heero finds out she named that thing 'Mr. Cuddles'. I still remember when he found out what Relena called it."  
  
"Duo," Wufei said sternly. "I don't want to hear you say the 'H' word around her. I respect the idea of not telling her. It's hard to talk about something that isn't there."  
  
"Right, Wufei, whatever." Duo left him in the kitchen as he headed to the living room.  
  
***  
  
Relena wasn't really looked at her menu. She was looking over it at her surroundings. It was a very fancy place and she felt slightly under dressed. Surprisingly enough, Quatre was right. No one had noticed her yet. Even if they did, she would just say she looked like the vice foreign minister, that was all.  
  
"I can see why you had to make so many calls," she said to Quatre.  
  
Quatre had been glancing at her over his menu as she looked around. When she turned to look at him, he blushed and hid behind the menu. "It's nothing, really," he said, trying not to let his voice quiver. He tried to stop his whole face from turning deep red, but couldn't help it. "Um, what are you ordering, Relena?"  
  
"I'll have this expensive meal right here."  
  
"Which one?" He smiled when she giggled.  
  
"The one about clam chowder, salad, and spaghetti."  
  
"Ah," Quatre replied. All of that together didn't sound good to him, but if Relena was going to get it, then it couldn't be too bad. "I guess I'll have that, too."  
  
Relena smiled. "And what should we drink, Quatre?"  
  
"Some wine or champagne," Quatre mumbled under his breath.  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"Uh... I don't care, anything," Quatre said quickly, trying to rhyme the new words with the ones he mumbled before.  
  
"Oh," she said. "Well, since this place is so fancy we'd probably have to get something real expensive."  
  
"Non-alcoholic," Quatre said as he sat his menu down and looked at her.  
  
She smiled. "Yes."  
  
"Orders agreed?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Soon the waiter came over. "Yes? Vhat vould yu like?"  
  
"Um..." Relena looked over at Quatre. "Go ahead."  
  
"Oh, we would like the spaghetti, salad and clam chowder dinner."  
  
"Very vell, and to dvink?"  
  
Quatre studied the menu for a moment. "How about... some... Loire?" Then he flashed a smile at Relena.  
  
The waiter nodded and took the menus. Now that he could see Relena's face, he looked surprised. "Has anyvone ever told yu how much you vook like the vice foreign minister?"  
  
Relena smiled modestly. "I've heard it a couple times."  
  
He nodded, bowed, and quickly left. Quatre couldn't help it anymore and began to chuckle. Relena looked over at him and raised and eyebrow. "What's so funny?"  
  
"You, Ms. Clam Chowder, tricked him easily – almost too easily."  
  
She smiled. "Yes, I guess so." She reached for her glass of water and brought it up to her lips. "But I'm not the one who ordered the Loire wine now am I?" She quickly took a sip to hide her smirk.  
  
"Hey," he said in defense. "I'm of age, you know. I've been of age for years. Besides, I didn't know what else to order. Do not tell anyone, but wine isn't my best subject. I know rich people should know their wine, but come on; I met Trowa, Duo, and the other guys when I was fifteen. What do you expect from me?"  
  
She shook her head. "You know, Quatre, this is nice of you to take me out. All those phone calls... you must have created quite a night. Is this an early birthday present for me?"  
  
It was all too true that April was getting closer and that Relena's birthday wasn't too far away. However, that was the last thing on Quatre's mind at the moment. And he explained to her, that he was just doing this so she could enjoy herself.  
  
"I appreciate your generosity, Quatre," Relena said with a bright smile.  
  
"Don't mention it, Relena." Quatre reached over and rested his hand on her own. He felt a sudden wave of emotions. Fright, tense, worry. He looked up and saw that pool of emotions in her eyes. His face turned red again. He pulled his hand away quickly, knowing that was a bad move.  
  
Suddenly something struck him: was he flirting? Was he flirting with the mother of one of his friends' child? Now this was getting ridiculous. He couldn't help but look at her all the time, but... Every time he gave her that smile, and said something that way... was he flirting?  
  
The two suddenly felt uneasy and there was an awkward silence until the waiter came back with their food. So then, the food served as a reason for not talking. Then, Quatre knew he could break the sudden ice and get Relena to start smiling again. And he was going to take her there right after dinner.  
  
***  
  
Duo and Destiny had watched one too many sing-along movie... that is what it felt like. Somewhere around the fourth one, they both fell asleep, sprawled out on the floor. Duo found the little 25-minute movies far too boring.  
  
When Destiny woke up, the television was black because the movie ran out. She sat up and looked over to Duo. He was laying on the floor, still asleep, his head at the foot of the coach to his feet that reached the coffee table. Destiny looked over his form and saw Mr. Cuddles lying on the other side of him. She bit her lip and tried to reach over to it. Afraid she would fall on him, she stopped. She got up, making sure not to step on his braid. She leaned over him and stretched her arm out to grab a hold of the bear. Again she stopped, afraid she would fall on him and wake him up.  
  
She got as close to him without touching any of his body part as she could. She leaned over, reaching her arm out as far as she could. She was able to grab the bear's arm and pull it to her. She hugged it to her tight as she stepped away from unconscious Duo on the floor. She leaned over and turned the television off. Double-checking, to make sure Duo wasn't awake, she stepped back a couple steps and left the room.  
  
Destiny walked down the hall, looking for Uncle Wufei. She looked in each room as she passed, until she came to the library. She looked in and saw him sitting cross-legged on the ground, reading a book. She grinned and went in.  
  
"Uncle Wufei!" Her sudden outburst startled him. He looked away from the book at her and narrowed his eyes at the interruption. "What 'cha reading, Uncle Wufei?" She walked over and stood in front of him with her hands behind her back.  
  
"A book you wouldn't understand, he replied.  
  
She got a bright smile on her face. "Will you read me a book, Uncle Wufei?" Before he could reply, she went over to the bookcase and pulled out a little picture book from the bottom shelf. With Mr. Cuddles tucked under her arm, she carried the book over and gave it to Wufei.  
  
Wufei gave a look at the rainbow colored book that had a picture of a hippo and a robin on the cover. He opened it to the first page and began to read: "happy Hippo and Bud Bird were good friends. One was big. One was small." He stopped and looked at her. "Spare me."  
  
She blinked in confusion. "You didn't get to the part where Happy's in the water and – "  
  
Wufei closed the book. "Is there anything else I can read to you?"  
  
"'Billy, Meg, and their pet dragon'?"  
  
Wufei looked at her for a moment, pondering it, before he sighed. "Okay."  
  
"Yay!" She skipped to the bookcase and pulled out another little book. Then she carried it back over to him, and gave it to him happily. He took it and inspected the cover.  
  
This cover had a little boy, a little girl, and a baby dragon on the cover. He cleared his throat and opened it to the first page. He felt a large weight and looked down to see her sitting on his lap. She hugged Mr. Cuddles to her tightly and smiled at him. Wufei shook his head and began to read her the story.  
  
***  
  
Quatre pushed the hat on his head up so he could see where he was going. He was still wearing his dressy outfit and everything; only the big hat that covered half his face was different. He opened the door to the building in front of him and turned to look at Relena. Even though it was in the evening, she was wearing sunglasses, to hide her face from anyone who might recognize her. After the close call at the restaurant, they were trying to hide themselves.  
  
Quatre offered her a smile, which did not help her. She went in with the same frown she'd had for a while. He, too, frowned and followed her inside.  
  
"So what's this place, Quatre?" Relena asked, glancing around. When Quatre closed the door behind him, she took a few more steps away. She had been keeping her distance.  
  
"You'll see," Quatre replied mischievously. He led her farther inside until they heard music in the air. They stopped in front of a curtain that Quatre pushed away. Relena gaped at the sight that welcomed her.  
  
To the left were tables; just like the dinner tables in the restaurant they had just left. There were people sitting at the tables getting their orders from waiters and waitresses. To the right, was a large wooden floor, which had people dancing on it. A small orchestra was playing in front of them all.  
  
Relena took her sunglasses off to take in the view better. Quatre grinned at the astonishment on her face. He took his hat off and stuffed it into his coat pocket. He then led her inside. He got them a table and she looked around, still astonished.  
  
"What is this?" She asked breathlessly. "I've never heard of this place before."  
  
"It's a classy place for 'unclassy' people. Regular people that just want to have fun."  
  
A waitress walked over to them, a legal pad in her left hand, and a pen in her right. She chewed on her gum as she looked at Quatre and asked, "What can I get you, honey?"  
  
"Oh, nothing, thanks. We ate before we came here," Quatre replied. The waitress nodded back at him and left.  
  
Relena looked at Quatre confusedly. "If we're not here to eat or anything, what did you bring me here for?"  
  
Quatre got up and stood in front of her. He gave her a small bow and extended his arm. "Miss Relena, would you care to have this dance?"  
  
Relena looked at him for a long period of time. She tried not to let his smile get to her, give him her own smile, and say 'yes.' She was wary of him at the moment. Nevertheless, he was being so mean by giving her a dazzling smile and a pair of big blue eyes. She sighed and took his hand. "Alright."  
  
She allowed Quatre to pull her out onto the dance floor. As soon as they got there, slower music began to play. Relena gave an irritated sigh and wrapped one of her arms up to his shoulder. Just so she wouldn't get scared again, he slowly wrapped his arm around her waist. She nodded to him that that was fine so he moved his other arm up and grasped her hand in his. She nodded again and urged him to go ahead and start dancing, so he did.  
  
"Miss Relena," Quatre began. She noted his formality – a sign he was being cautious with her. "Please don't be mad. I... I'm taking you out tonight to relieve stress, not build more. You are my friend and I don't want you to be angry. Especially at something I did."  
  
Relena looked into his eyes for the first time since they went to the restaurant. "What was that you did, anyways? Why?"  
  
Quatre knew what she was asking. She wanted to know what it meant. He also knew he couldn't answer – he wasn't even sure what the move meant. He could privately admit to himself that he'd had a crush on her for a long time. But he knew better than to tell her, and he tried not to show it just because Heero was away. So, he said the first thing that was comforting. "I was just trying to be comforting."  
  
She gave a single nod. Deep down she had know he wasn't trying to make a pass at her. He was too sweet for that. She could understand what he meant. "I kind of thought that. I don't think you would do that with a certain something in mind."  
  
"Well... I bet any person would. You're wonderful." Quatre mentally kicked himself. What was he doing? How could he say that? Well, no matter what he thought, Relena thought it was a comment.  
  
"You flatter me, Quatre," she gave him a smile as they twirled around slowly.  
  
Quatre figured if he'd gotten this far, why not push it? "In fact, you are probably the most beautiful woman I've ever met. Heero's lucky."  
  
Their dancing slowed. They kept staring into each other's eyes. Quatre held his breath for a moment; he didn't know what to do. He couldn't hear the music, just her lovely voice echoing in his head.  
  
"Quatre..." she whispered. Quatre leaned into her, caught up in the moment. The hand that was rested on her shoulder moved down to wrap around her waist. He moved in for a kiss. He breathed heavily against her skin. When their lips were only a few centimeters away, Relena's eyes opened wide. "Quatre, Heero."  
  
"Hm?" Quatre mumbled, still caught up in the moment.  
  
"Heero," she repeated, pulling away from Quatre. That word alone made him jump back into reality and let her go. He knew he should stop. "I want to go home," Relena said, wrapping her arms around herself.  
  
"Miss Relena..."  
  
"Now."  
  
***  
  
"Please can I go outside?"  
  
"No," Wufei repeated for the hundredth time, it seemed.  
  
It had been about two hours since Duo fell asleep. Wufei tried to wake him up earlier, but Duo slept like a rock so Wufei gave up. Now, Destiny was sitting at the dining room table and Wufei was baking brownies.  
  
"Why?"  
  
Wufei sighed, rather annoyed. "I told you why the thirty-fifth time you asked. It's about ten degrees outside and I am not going to stand outside and freeze just so you can frolic around."  
  
"Aww," she pouted, crossing her arms. "I want to go outside."  
  
"No. Don't throw a tantrum."  
  
"I'm not throwing a tantrum."  
  
"I'm making you brownies, so stop complaining."  
  
Destiny got quiet and watched him pull a pan out of the oven. He stuck a toothpick in it, pulled it out, and studied it. "It's done," he stated as he sat the pan off to the side. "Don't touch it, give it a half hour to cool."  
  
"Okay," she replied. She slid off the chair and grinned. "What are we going to do now, Uncle Wufei?"  
  
"I don't care... go watch television."  
  
Her smile faded to a frown. "Aren't you going to do something with me?"  
  
"No."  
  
"You say 'no' a lot Uncle Wufei."  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes. "I'll play a card game with you, I guess. Then you eat a brownie," he checked his watch. "And then go to bed."  
  
"That doesn't sound very fun."  
  
"It doesn't matter how fun it sounds, now go get some playing cards. What games do you know?"  
  
"'Go Fish'."  
  
Wufei waited for her to list some more, but she didn't. He sighed, "Go get some playing cards and hurry up."  
  
So, Wufei and Destiny played cards for about twenty minutes. He allowed her to win every game so she wouldn't whine or do and of those annoying childish habits. When the twenty minutes passed, Destiny got bored of winning every game, so she asked for some brownies.  
  
Wufei cut the brownies into twelve squares. He took one out and sat it on a paper towel. He laid the paper towel on the table before her. "Hurry up and enjoy."  
  
She smiled at him. "Uncle Wufei, you forgot my milk."  
  
"Milk? You drink milk with everything. Can't you go without it?"  
  
"But I'll get thirsty," she said in a warning tone.  
  
He marched over to the refrigerator and yanked the door open pulling out the milk carton. Destiny watched him pour her milk for her with a large grin. He brought the pink cup over to her and sat it down near the brownie.  
  
"Anything else, Your Highness?" he asked sarcastically. She shook her head and took a big bite of the brownie. Wufei rolled his eyes and went to check in on Duo.  
  
He realized Duo was still asleep, going on his third hour now. Wufei was upset and disgusted that he had to watch this child while Duo did nothing. Plus, Duo would probably try to make up for it so he could get some money to buy Hilde a ring.  
  
"Poor pathetic, braided, idiot," Wufei mumbled. He walked over behind the couch and looked down at Duo, who was still sprawled all over the floor.  
  
He was lying on his side mumbling something every once in a while. He rolled over on his back. "Hilde," he mumbled in his sleep. He had a big smile on his face and, judging by the size of his pants, Wufei didn't want to know what he was dreaming about.  
  
"That is pathetic," Wufei commented. He shook his head, not bothering to try to wake him up. He turned and headed back to the kitchen.  
  
Quite a few minutes later, Destiny was in her pajamas and ready for bed. She and Wufei were standing in the bathroom, by the sink. Wufei was reading the directions on the toothpaste tube to her.  
  
"'Children under 6 years'," he glanced over at her. "How old are you? Three?"  
  
"Four."  
  
"Ah." He looked back at the tube. "'To minimize swallowing use a pea-sized amount and supervise brushing until good habits are established.'" He looked at her again. "Are your good habits established?"  
  
"What's that mean?"  
  
"It means can you brush your teeth by yourself."  
  
"Oh, yup."  
  
Wufei sat her toothbrush and toothpaste down in front of her. "There you go."  
  
She looked at them for a moment and then looked at Wufei. She was obviously quite confused, which confused Wufei.  
  
"What?" he asked.  
  
"Mommy or someone puts the toothpaste on the brush for me." Wufei did as she said, handing her the toothbrush with toothpaste on it. "Thank you," she said and began brushing her teeth.  
  
At the door, Wufei could see Duo saunter up to the doorframe. He yawned and scratched the side of his head. Wufei narrowed his eyes at the braided boy.  
  
"It's about time you woke up."  
  
"Yeah," Duo said. "Watching a kid is hard work."  
  
"And how would you know? You were asleep for almost all of it!"  
  
Duo shrugged. His eyes widened as he heard a sound come from outside. It was the sound of a car pulling up. He gave Wufei a frantic look. "Wufei, Quatre and Relena are here! Destiny was supposed to be in bed ten minutes ago!"  
  
"Well, that's not my fault," Wufei snapped. "You try helping a child get dressed." He walked pass Duo, saying nothing more than, "You put her to bed."  
  
Duo looked surprised. "What? Me? Why me?"  
  
"Because you weren't very helpful," Wufei called from down the hall. "And you have to work if you want to get paid."  
  
Duo sent him a sour look before he turned to the girl who was looking at Duo out of the corner of her eye as she spit in the sink.  
  
***  
  
When Wufei reached the ground floor, he was half way to the living room when he heard the sound that signaled a very pissed off woman: the sound of a door slamming open and then slamming shut. He had gotten used to that sound all too well. He peered inside the room to see Relena, fumbling with the buttons on her coat. Quatre – whose coat was already on the hanger – walked over to her and reached a hand out.  
  
"Let me help you with your coat, Miss Relena," he said, shakily.  
  
"I can get it myself," she snapped.  
  
Wufei was surprised at how she left so happy and came back so upset. Nevertheless, he decided to approach the scene in front of him with what he had to say.  
  
"Well, I'm off," he said as he tried to pass the two. Quatre grabbed his arm as if pleading him not to go.  
  
"Why such a rush, Wufei?" Quatre asked him in a friendly tone.  
  
"I get a new mission every working day, it seems," Wufei replied sarcastically.  
  
Quatre gave Relena wary glance as he pushed Wufei from the door. "Please stay for awhile, Wufei. We hardly get to see you."  
  
"I can't, really," Wufei tried to explain. "I should do or – "  
  
"Could I interest you in a cup of tea?" Quatre smiled and patted Wufei's shoulder. "Doesn't that sound good, Wufei? A nice cup of tea? Come on!" But before he could drag Wufei to the kitchen, Relena stopped them.  
  
"Where's my daughter?"  
  
"Well, Maxwell should have her in bed by now." That was all he had to say before Relena left to go to Destiny's room. Quatre then acted like he'd exhaled for the first time since he and Relena left. He turned to Wufei with a big frown.  
  
"Wufei, I'm in trouble. I made some bad moves while we were out."  
  
Wufei blinked once. "How bad were the moves?"  
  
Quatre rested his head in his hands. "I just hope Heero doesn't find out so he won't kill me."  
  
"That bad, eh?" Quatre sighed and Wufei continued. "Well, look Quatre, I have to go back to Preventers Headquarters, plus I'm not very good with women. Why don't you ask Duo?"  
  
Quatre nodded. "Alright, are you leaving right now?"  
  
"Yes, right now. Tell everyone 'good-bye' for me."  
  
"Um... are you just going to leave Duo here?"  
  
Wufei gave him a look and shrugged. "On the way here he said he wanted to stay."  
  
"Any particular reason?"  
  
"He said you should know."  
  
Quatre slowly nodded his head, trying to think of what that might be. He couldn't decide but, much to his surprise, he noticed Wufei heading for the door.  
  
"Good-bye, Wufei."  
  
Wufei stopped as he opened the door. "Yeah, good-bye," he said quickly. Then, just as quickly, he left the house, closing the door behind him.  
  
Quatre sighed and decided to go ahead and enter the lion's den. He climbed up the stairs and walked down the hall to Destiny's room. Duo was standing outside the room fingering his braid.  
  
"Duo," Quatre greeted.  
  
Duo glanced over to his blond friend and gave a small smile. Then he glanced inside the room and Quatre followed his gaze.  
  
Relena was sitting on the edge of Destiny's bed. She was talking to her quietly, probably so the boys couldn't hear. As Relena talked, she smoothed the girl's hair. Quatre wished he knew what was being said but it was obvious they wanted privacy.  
  
"She's pretty pissed," Duo said. "What happened?" Quatre cleared his throat and looked to the floor. This made Duo even more curious. "Come on, Quatre. I'm your friend, you can tell me."  
  
"Duo... how do you think I feel about Relena?"  
  
"Truthfully?" Duo shrugged. "I think you've got the hots for her. Why?"  
  
"Am I that obvious?" Quatre picked his head up to look at his braided friend.  
  
"Yes, very."  
  
Quatre sighed. "I tried to kiss her."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I know she loves Heero, deep down inside he loves her too. I don't know what came over me, I feel so terrible..."  
  
Duo gave him a sympathetic look. "Don't worry, Quatre. She'll understand soon. Now, uh, I was wonderin' if I could stay here tonight."  
  
"Sure, I suppose. You can get that guest room down there," Quatre nodded to his left. "And I heard there is a reason for this and I should know. But... I don't. What is it?"  
  
"I'll, uh... I'll tell ya later." Duo nodded, agreeing with himself and went to find the guest room Quatre mentioned.  
  
Quatre watched Duo leave before turning the opposite way and heading to his own room.  
  
A couple hours later, Quatre found himself staring up at the ceiling from atop his bed. He couldn't sleep. It had been about three hours since he went t his room, and couldn't sleep. So he just lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling. Suddenly he heard his door creak. He turned his head to the sound.  
  
There in the doorway stood Destiny, barefoot and in her pink unicorn nightgown. She closed the door behind her and scampered over to Quatre's bed. She quickly climbed onto it and crawled over to him. Quatre smiled and welcomed her warmly.  
  
"Bad dream?" he asked in a soft voice as he pulled the covers over her. She nodded in reply and snuggled against his bare chest. "Want to tell me about it?"  
  
"It was him again, Quatre. He was being mean again. He had a gun in his hand and looked scary."  
  
Quatre frowned. "You usually don't dream about him unless you can feel him... did you feel him?"  
  
"Uh huh. I forgot to tell you, Quatre. When we were in space I felt it."  
  
"Where were you?"  
  
"In the car with Uncle Duo, but it didn't last long. Quatre, is my daddy as mean as he feels?"  
  
"No, Destiny, he isn't. Remember how I told you your hearts were connected so you feel the pain in his heart? Well, that's just what it is. He tries to let it go, but it's very difficult for him. Remember, what I told: he's the soul of outer space. He has a great burden and it's very hard on him. But you'll see, the day you meet him, it will all be all right. Okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Anything else you should tell me?"  
  
"I almost told Mommy about Daddy today. It was an accident."  
  
"You caught yourself though, right?"  
  
"Uh huh. But tonight she asked me about what I meant. I told her I guessed he wouldn't like it."  
  
"Good, because she can't find out you know about your daddy. It's too hard on her to think of him. We don't want to hurt Mommy, do we?"  
  
Destiny shook her head. That look in her eyes showing she was thinking. Finally, she looked up at him with all her innocence. "Will I ever see Daddy?"  
  
"I...I hope so. But for now we'll just have to wait for him to find himself. No matter how long it will take, I can bet your mother will wait for him. Now, go to sleep."  
  
"'Night, Quatre," she mumbled.  
  
He ran his hand down her hair, straightening it. "Good night, Angel."  
  
  
  
The End of Chapter 7  
  
  
  
Okay, sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. I got way behind and this is almost two weeks longer than when I wanted to get it out. Sorry! Anyways, as for the chapter… Yeah yeah, I'm sorry HYxRP fans. You'll never see a scene like that again. I was bored in Algebra class and that whole restaurant and dancing scene was written then. But hey, if you like the QWxRP pairing, then there ya go! I know there was a lot of confusion in this chapter, especially around Wu-man and Duo. Don't worry; all of your questions will be answered in later chapters! But, stay tuned for the next chapter, which is all about Heero! Yay, we're going to catch up on him after 4 ½ years! Anyways, as always, thanks for reading! 


	9. Chapter 8

A Strawberry and Vanilla Swirl  
  
Chapter 8  
  
  
  
"Wars are nothing but repulsive violence, so how is it that you can be so clear-cut about it all?"  
  
"It's the only way I know how to live."  
  
Those were some of the truest words he had ever spoken about himself, and they rang in his ears. His short conversation with Sylvia Noventa replayed in his mind. It was true; this was the only way he knew how to live. It was how he was brought up.  
  
But, four years of finding himself was slowly paying off. He found himself expressing his emotions more often, and was amused by things easier. But there was still a block and when he got angry... he got angry. So, he definitely was not kid-friendly yet.  
  
He lived in an apartment. No television, and a phone that was not in the phonebook. He kept a laptop on the coffee table and slept on the couch. The kitchen was the only room he had much use for, which was to eat.  
  
He worked in a construction company for X-18999. He had some history with this colony and thought it would be a good place to come to peace with himself. He had done a good job of keeping a low profile, too. He knew some people were looking for him. He had intercepted messages from Preventers once and knew he was being looked for. It probably had to do with four certain males who he knew.  
  
Heero wished he knew what his daughter looked like. He did not want to tell anyone his address so there was no way to get her picture. He could not go see her or anything either. He had even tried looking up her profile before, but there was no picture of her anywhere. So, he could only imagine what she looked like.  
  
When he had time, he would imagine that she looked just like Relena. Long sandy blonde hair, deep, sea blue eyes, a beautiful smile, and a tiny little nose. But he wished he could see the real thing and not just his imagination.  
  
He wanted to see Relena again, that was another thing he was looking forward to. He would love to see Relena again after nearly five years. But, of course, he wasn't Relena-friendly yet, either. Because he was so dangerous. It was true, that was – how he felt – the only way he knew how to live.  
  
It was five o'clock, and that meant Heero's shift was over. He slipped pass all the chatty people and calmly walked pass the people who were scared of him – either because of his looks or his antisocialism – and left quickly. He didn't have a car, he liked walking. It helped him reduce any stress he got from work.  
  
Depending on his mood, he would occasionally walk pass the park to watch all the children play. Those children were his guinea pigs. He tested himself around them so he knew the things his daughter would do, and his reaction to them. His years of experience with some of them showed him that around children he had incredible patience. But he was also pained.  
  
He found he couldn't look into their eyes. No matter their gender, age, or features, he couldn't look into their eyes. This was because it pained him so much. The last time he looked into innocent eyes of a child, he ended up killing her. And her little dog, too.  
  
He always had a soft spot for children. Deep down inside. He wasn't sure why. Whether it was because of his childhood was deprived from him and he did not want anyone to experience what he had to. Or maybe it was because children were so innocent and kind that they should be protected. Perhaps it was because he thought of Relena and children as being the base of all peace. Whatever the reason, he liked children and was always so afraid he would hurt them.  
  
He entered the par the way he always did. Then walked over and sat on a bench. He studied the park with interest. He liked the layout of the place. They had it so that if you sat on a bench you could practically see the whole park. The park was so beautiful and peaceful, even if children were playing loudly. That thought made his mind wander to something else he was beautiful and peaceful: Relena.  
  
Relena. There came a point in the war where she was the only thing he fought for. When the colonies were against him and he was not sure what to fight for, he fought for Relena. He would never admit to anyone else, but it was true.  
  
Heero began to imagine what his daughter looked like again. He had been doing that a lot lately. It was those darn emotions showing through him. It was hard to get used to them. But, sometime he couldn't help thinking about the things that went on in that home. He smiled slightly. Poor Relena. On second thought, poor Quatre. Sometimes Quatre would annoy him slightly. The boy would always be able to know something about him. He could tell what his emotions were. Of course, he would deny, but it was true. Nevertheless, he had Quatre watch Relena and Destiny. One reason, of course, was he couldn't trust any of the other three. Maybe Trowa, if Trowa had the time. Not Wufei, 'justice' was in his vocabulary, not 'patience.' And definitely not Duo. He couldn't even trust Duo with a chocolate cake, much less something so important less something so important as this. So of course, he trusted only Quatre.  
  
Besides, he knew Quatre knew his emotions, but he could read Quatre sometimes too. And he knew Quatre cared for Relena enough to watch her almost as dearly as Heero could himself.  
  
Heero sighed. He was thinking too much again. He wondered why he was doing that so much lately. Well, no matter what the reason, he didn't really care. He turned his attention back to the park and its inhabitant. Again he thought about how good the layout was.  
  
Right in front of the benches were the slides, monkey bars, bridges, the normal things. To the left was a large sand bow, and to the right were swings. Under all the playthings were woodchips to keep the children safe. Then, to the far right, a few yards of grass later, there were plenty of trees with low branches to climb.  
  
Of course, people didn't use the benches anyway, This park was usually used for parents to drop their children off before they went to work. He thought that was a dumb thing to do. He thought it was dangerous leaving children all alone like that. That's why he was there, he was protecting them. That was his place at the moment.  
  
Heero felt a tug on his arm. He turned to look at a little girl. She had dirty blonde hair and sapphire colored eyes. For no reason at all, she reminded him of Relena. It must have been her innocence. He wasn't sure. She smiled at him and climbed up on the bench to sit next to him. She gave him a bigger smile. It made the corners of his mouth curl up in a small smile.  
  
"Hi, Mr. Maxwell," she piped up.  
  
"Hi," Heero replied.  
  
"Will you push me on the swings?"  
  
"I suppose." The little girl jumped up. "Yay!" She ran over to the swings. Heero, slower than the girl, got up and followed her.  
  
Her name was July. Not July the month. Not Julie, although it was pronounced the same. It was spelled like the month, but she said her name like 'Julie'. He met her a year ago. He saw her and hoped his daughter was like her. One day she had come up to him and asked him why he always seemed to be on the bench…  
  
"What's the matter, Mister?"  
  
Heero had given her an odd look. "Huh?"  
  
"Do you sleep on the bench, mister? Are you a homeless?"  
  
'A homeless.' She had asked him if he was 'a homeless'. Well this was not the best way to start him on the day.  
  
"No, I live in an apartment. I jus sit here a lot."  
  
She had looked about the age his daughter would have been then. She sat on the bench, next to him, and they talked.  
  
"Uh oh," she had said as she jumped off. "I have-ta go home now. What's your name, Mister?"  
  
Heero didn't use his 'code name' much. He wanted his own name, not a name someone made up for him. Of course, he never had a name; it had always been something new for a mission. Yet, he did not want to think up a new name. So, he told her the first thing that came to his mind.  
  
"Duo Maxwell.: Which so happened to be the name he was using on X-18999.  
  
"Bye, Mr. Maxwell,' she had called and waved to him. He gave her a small wave and then she skipped away. He had known her ever since.  
  
So, whenever she was in the park she would ask him to play with her. Well, Heero Yuy did not play. He did what ever the girl did with less enthusiasm, mostly because inside, he would rather play these things with his daughter. But he tried not to let it show as he pushed her on the swing, with her giggling cutely all the way.  
  
Of course, Heero knew that the girl would get bored with that quickly, so he was prepared. Well, he was fortunate this time. At least she played on the swings for five minutes before claiming she wanted to stop.  
  
Heero slowed the swing down and, by grabbing the chairs on each side of the seat, stopped it completely. She hopped off and stated she wanted to go play in the sandbox. Heero sighed and willingly followed. At that moment he realized he was not babysitting the girl and did not have to do whatever she said. But then again, he had a soft spot for children.  
  
The sandbox was a good size, big enough to fit about five or six kids in. Of course, this was fine with Heero since he'd only grown about three inches since the war and he could fit in it all right.  
  
He sat down on the edge of the sandbox, because he wasn't very fond of sand. He eyed the girl as she picked up a plastic shovel and pail and began putting sand into the pail.  
  
"Come on, Mr. Maxwell," she said cheerfully. "Don't you want to play?"  
  
"Yeah. I was just thinking," he lied.  
  
July reached her hand into the sand until she found a plastic, red shovel. "Help me dig, Mr. Maxwell. We have to build a castle for the princess, because she has now here to live!"  
  
Heero raised an eyebrow. "If she doesn't have anywhere to live how is she a princess?"  
  
"Her last castle got knocked down."  
  
"How?"  
  
"A big dragon! He was coming to the princess's castle, and turned around, and accidentally hit the castle with it's tail and the castle falled down and the princess was sad and she wanted a new castle and -- "  
  
"Okay," Heero butted in. He had never heard so many 'and's in his life, the girl needed to take a breath. "And the castle did not 'falled' it 'fell'," he added.  
  
"Oh," she said. She tipped the pail over and let it sit on the sand for a moment. Then she lifted it up and smiled at the little beginning of the castle it had made. But she didn't see the other side that Heero could se. There was a little landslide going on and before they knew it, the sand castle tumbled to the ground.  
  
Heero knew what was coming. His eyes widened and he looked over to the girl. Her eyes filled up with tears and she began to cry over her fallen castle.  
  
Heero was quick to the rescue. He jumped up from where he was sitting and got down on the sand. He reached his hand under the pile of sand that was once a castle, and pulled out the green bucket from beneath it. He grabbed the red shovel she had given him not too long ago and began digging into the sand and pouring it into the pail.  
  
Every few scoops he'd flatten the sand in the pail and push it down to pack it in. Then he'd continue piling it in. July's crying had reduced to sobs, which now was a sniff every once in awhile. She was distracted by Heero's sudden take-charge attitude.  
  
Heero finally sat the small shovel down next to him, sighed, and flipped the pail over in t. Slowly he pulled the pail away and it gradually revealed the stable, small castle that he had created.  
  
July wiped her eyes with her hands and smiled at him. "How'd you do that, Mr. Maxwell?"  
  
Heero shrugged. "It just takes patience, I suppose." He held the pail out to her and she took it, looking at it – and then the castle – with surprise.  
  
"Thank you, Mr. Maxwell," she said, exasperated. "I can't believe I –"  
  
Suddenly from behind them another voice broke in. "But the castle was knocked down by a big, mean dragon." And they saw a big blur jump into the sandbox, right on the castle, knocking it down.  
  
Heero and July looked down to see a little boy about July's age with light brown hair, and their eyes were the same color.  
  
The boy sat up and grinned triumphantly. July gave him a deadly look. "Casey! You knocked down my castle, you big dummy!"  
  
Heero crossed his arms at July's cousin, who was two years older than her. They had the opportunity of meeting many times before. Heero didn't like him, because he reminded him too much like himself. The boy was brutal – like most boys his age.  
  
"Too bad the princess was inside, now she's dead."  
  
"Nuh-uh, Casey! She's not dead!" July protested. "She can't be dead!"  
  
"She is," Casey replied, sticking his tongue out at her.  
  
July's eyes began to well up with tears again "My princess is not dead, she's alive! You didn't hurt her!"  
  
"Nope, the dragon did."  
  
Heero sighed. He'd had enough of this for now. "Okay, you've made your point. Now why don't you help your cousin rebuild the castle."  
  
"Yuck," Casey replied. "That's sissy stuff. I have better things t do."  
  
July put her hand on her waist. "Like be a big dummy!"  
  
Casey glared at her and tackled her to the ground. Anger was really building up in Heero, he couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed the back of the boy's shirt and pulled him up. Casey let out a yelp as Heero sat him down on his feet.  
  
"Listen you –" Heero began. He wasn't going to threaten him, just slightly lecture. But was interrupted by a girl's voice from far away.  
  
"July, Casey, come on kids, where are you?"  
  
Everyone turned to se a tall lady in the distance looking around for them. Heero let go of Casey's shirt.  
  
July stood up and called to the woman, "Coming Mom!" She turned to her cousin. "Come on, Casey." She didn't have to tell him twice, the boy went running. She turned to Heero and smiled. "Good-bye, Mr. Maxwell!" She turned and started toward her mom.  
  
"'Bye," Heero mumbled. He glanced around the now empty park. He must have been there longer than it seemed, because it was about sever or eight. He could tell because the artificial light of the colony was starting to dim.  
  
He sighed, realizing this day was half over. He stood up and dusted off the sand on his pants. He stepped out f the sandbox and started to his apartment building. He took two steps away from the sandbox and heard someone say something. He paused when he thought he heard a girl say something. He turned around and looked surprised. It was Relena.  
  
"Heero, I want you to make me a promise. Promise me you won't leave here without telling me fist."  
  
Heero opened his mouth to reply, but Relena faded away. She was just a hallucination. He looked at the spot where he thought she was for a moment. He closed his eyes and shook his head absently.  
  
"Stop seeing things, Yuy," he mumbled to himself.  
  
He turned and continued on his destination to his apartment building. He walked down a busy street, the wonderful smell of the freshly baked goods from the deli filled the air. Heero stuffed his fists into his pockets and glanced to window out of the corner of his eye.  
  
Cakes, muffins, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and anything else imaginable were what greeted his sight. Duo would have a field tip in there; he knew it. He tried to shake it off and picked up his pace to hurry up and get to his apartment.  
  
He began to climb up the steps to his room, when he heard "Maxwell." It took a moment to register that was supposed to be him. He turned around to face an old man half a floor below him.  
  
"Your rent is due tomorrow, I'm telling you in advance."  
  
"Hn," Heero turned to his door and opened it. He never locked his door; he figured there was nothing of interest to steal. But he did lock it if he was in it so he wouldn't be bothered. He shut the door behind him and locked it. Then he glanced around his living quarters. He room always seemed to be so dark.  
  
"I need to get a dog or something," he said. "It's so melancholy in here."  
  
He walked over and sat on his couch. He felt tired. It just washed over him all of a sudden. He walked got a good night's sleep, so why he was tired he wasn't sure. But he went ahead and lay down. His eyes closed halfway and he tried to keep conscious. But the sleep proved to be powerful and made him quickly fall asleep.  
  
A few minutes after he fell asleep, he heard a telephone. He immediately sat up and rested his head in his hands. The loud ringing startled him and he glanced over to the phone. Why would the phone be ringing? No one knew his phone number. He slowly stood and walked over. He snatched the phone up. 'The person on the other end had better not be something selling something, for their sake.'  
  
He picked up the phone and said with his ever-so-etiquette voice, "What do you want?" The other person told him something that made his eyes widen. "What? But… right."  
  
Heero hung up the phone and looked down at it. He got a determined look on his face and ran out of his room. He was fast down the stairs and out of the building, practically flying down the street. Only a few minutes later, he arrived at a hospital and was standing in a hallway. Then he heard loud noises and turned to see a couple doctors and nurses pushing a stretcher down the hall. He stepped to the side and looked at it was it went by. Suddenly, he grabbed the side of it, and made them all stop. He looked at the person on the stretcher and gasped.  
  
It was Relena! She was bleeding everywhere; it was terrible. He looked to one of the doctors.  
  
"How did this happen?"  
  
The doctor sighed. "A building blew up, they were trying to assassinate the vice foreign minister. Her and her daughter were both injured."  
  
"Where is she?" Heero grabbed the doctor by the collar. "Where is my daughter?"  
  
"R-room C-1 – down the hall."  
  
Heero turned and ran down the hall, calling for Relena to hold on. He found a sign that read 'C' and was about to run into room 1. But a person standing at the door stopped him. He was slightly surprised to find it was Quatre.  
  
"Quatre, move out of my way. I want to see my daughter."  
  
Quatre crossed his arms a. "Since when? Why should you go see her now? You've never bothered to see her before. Biologically, you are her father. But, relationship wise, you have nothing to do with her."  
  
"Move it, Quatre. She's my daughter, I can she her whenever I want." Heero's voice was growing dangerous.  
  
"Why?" Quatre had a warning look on his face. You've never taken advantage of that before."  
  
Heero's eyes were tempting to wander from shame, but he forced himself to keep eyes contact. "I --  
  
"Face it Heero," Quatre said angrily. "You're not good enough to be her father. You're not good enough to be with Relena. I take care of them both, not you! You coward! Because you weren't there they got harmed! You weren't able to protect them! It's your fault they're in the hospital!"  
  
"Quatre," Heero said through gritted teeth.  
  
"Heero," Quatre said. "You're not worth it."  
  
"Huh?" Heero looked surprised.  
  
"You're not worth all the pain Relena goes through. You're not worth it." Quatre's eyes began to turn a red color. "All those times... could have died."  
  
Heero's eyes narrowed. "Quatre –" Before he could finish the word, Quatre was gone. So was the hospital. He was soon just standing in blackness.  
  
"Heero."  
  
Heero turned his head when he heard Relena's voice.  
  
"Heero."  
  
Heero turned his head the other way, trying to find the source of the voice.  
  
"Heero."  
  
"Relena?" Heero kept looking around. He couldn't find her. Where was she?  
  
"Heero," the voice repeated. Then he heard her desperately cry, "Heero!"  
  
Heero quickly sat up. He looked around the dark apartment and, realizing where he was, calmed down. He slumped against the couch and exhaled.  
  
"Some dream." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Some nightmare." He threw his legs over the side so he was sitting on the couch.  
  
"Quatre's right," he mumbled. "I am a coward. I have to admit that I think it's about time I see my daughter." He looked over to a calendar hanging on the wall by his laptop. "Two months. I should be able to afford a plane ticket by then." It would be a birthday present for her. But he'd have to inform Relena about it too. Heero smirked slightly. Oh, he'd contact her about that later.  
  
  
  
The End of Chapter 8  
  
Yay, I got it out! Okay, we're going to get back with everyone else next chapter! And, no matter what the end of this chapter hinted, the Heero and Relena reunion isn't for about five more chapters. And, yes. They have very demented dreams, don't they? As always, thanks for reading! 


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